Critical Principle when Reading the Bible

I scraped this off the Desiring God blog..... good stuff!

(Author: John Piper)

Sometimes readers of the Bible see the conditions that God lays down for his blessing and they conclude from these conditions that our action is first and decisive, then God responds to bless us.

That is not right.

There are indeed real conditions that God often commands. We must meet them for the promised blessing to come. But that does not mean that we are left to ourselves to meet the conditions or that our action is first and decisive.

Here is one example to show what I mean.

In Jeremiah 29:13 God says to the exiles in Babylon, "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." So there is a condition: When you seek me with all your heart, then you will find me. So we must seek the Lord. That is the condition of finding him.

True.

But does that mean that we are left to ourselves to seek the Lord? Does it mean that our action of seeking him is first and decisive? Does it mean that God only acts after our seeking?

No.

Listen to what God says in Jeremiah 24:7 to those same exiles in Babylon: "I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart."

So the people will meet the condition of returning to God with their whole heart. God will respond by being their God in the fullest blessing. But the reason they returned with their whole heart is that God gave them a heart to know him. His action was first and decisive.

So now connect that with Jeremiah 29:13. The condition there was that they seek the Lord with their whole heart. Then God will be found by them. But now we see that the promise in Jeremiah 24:7 is that God himself will give them such a heart so that they will return to him with their whole heart.

This is one of the most basic things people need to see about the Bible. It is full of conditions we must meet for God's blessings. But God does not leave us to meet them on our own. The first and decisive work before and in our willing is God's prior grace. Without this insight, hundreds of conditional statements in the Bible will lead us astray.

Let this be the key to all Biblical conditions and commands: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." (Philippians 2:12-13). Yes, we work. But our work is not first or decisive. God's is. "I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10).

What is Molinism?

Here is a good presentation on Molinism for the theologically rich mind! Dr. James White gives an excellent presentation.

John MacArthur on Barack Obama's Christianity

I could not agree with Dr. MacArthur more....

Why Are Children Ruling Our Homes?

In a recent article by Dr. Al Mohler, he addresses the issue of modern day children ruling the roost. In my short years as an adult and parent, I have noticed the extreme lack of discipline in children throughout our society. To the modern day child, teachers are not authorities, police officers are the bad guys and parents are brutal enforcers that are standing in the way of personal development.

Scripture teaches us the exact opposite of what modern society teaches:

Ephesians 6:1-4
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Colossians 3:20
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

And of course the commandment as given to Moses:

Exodus 20:12
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

This verse is echoed several times throughout scripture.

You can find Dr. Mohler's article on his blog:

http://www.albertmohler.com/2009/10/14/parents-obey-your-children/


Let us follow the example of King David:

Psalm 34:11
Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

But perhaps the bigger issue is not the children. Maybe the problem is that modern parents cannot lead their children to a place that they themselves have never been.

Lord, let your people gather their children and instruct each child to listen as parents teach them to fear You.

Until He Returns,

Love and the Law

John 8:2-11

2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

Here, we have an interesting and beautiful story regarding the Law of God. While Jesus was teaching people in the temple, the scribes and Pharisees brought before Him a woman that had been caught in the act of adultery. Obviously, they want to trap Jesus in saying the wrong thing; either telling them to stone her and losing favor with the people (which they were doing quite well of themselves) or dismiss the penalty and disregard the law of Moses.

His answer was for the one without sin to be the first to throw the stone - after that it could have been no holds barred! Problem was that there were none without sin, so they went away.

However, Christ was without sin, so He could have thrown the first stone. But He did not condemn her. So, did Jesus let the sin go and disregard the law?

No. First, He told her to go and 'sin no more'. This meant to repent of her sins. So He acknowledged that what she had done was sin. So what about the punishment?

The punishment was carried out...completely.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.


Christ bore her sins and the sins of the world to fulfill the law and provide forgiveness and reconciliation.

Praise be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Son who was faithful!

*Most scholars agree that this passage was not part of John's gospel. However I believe that the Scriptures teach that what can be gleaned from this story is Truth.