Thomas Watson was a Non-Conformist Puritan preacher at St. Stephen's, Walbrook in London before the Great Ejection in 1662. Though not quite as famous as other Puritans, Watson is widely considered one of the most readable. His works are gospel saturated classics held in high regard by many theologians such as Charles Spurgeon.
Today, a good friend of mine, would like to give away a copy of The Essential Works of Thomas Watson, published by GLH Publishing. You don't want to miss this opportunity! This book, in Kindle format, includes 15 classic writings from the beloved Puritan. The contents alone should be enough to make your mouth water:
-A Body Of Divinity
-The Doctrine Of Repentance
-A Divine Cordial (All Things For Good)
-Religion Our True Interest (The Great Gain Of Godliness)
-The Godly Man's Picture
-The Beatitudes
-The Art Of Divine Contentment
-The Lord's Prayer
-The Ten Commandments
-The Christian Soldier/Heaven Taken By Storm
-The Mischief Of Sin
-The Christian's Charter
-The Duty Of Self-Denial
-A Christian On The Mount
-Sermon On The Eve Of The Great Ejection
All you have to do is be the 5th person to email The Rest of Sunday and a copy of this ebook will be gifted to you. All that is needed is your name and email address for the gift to come to you via Amazon.
GLH Publishing, unlike other Kindle publishers, has done a fantastic job with this work. The contents are all hyperlinked and the formatting is commendable. They have also informed me that this volume is on sale for the month of October for $6.99, down from $9.99.
So...shoot me an email and you just might be reading Watson over the weekend! Have a great Friday!
In a recent post, Glenn Stanton of The Line: Bringing Focus to the Single Years, writes about what cohabitation does for marriage. In writing this, Stanton shows, even statistically, the many downfalls that often accompany premarital cohabitation. While the majority of these couples, some 75% of them, see cohabitation as an aggressive step toward marriage, the reality, however, is that this decision is actually proving to be an aggressive step toward abuse and even divorce.
The many warnings from Scripture, along with the undeniable sociological statistics, should prove to be a guard and guide for singles (as well as married couples) in an over-sexualized culture. In other words, the more we are bombarded with false depictions of the “glorious life in premarital cohabitation” via television, radio and other media, the more we need to hear the truth that those who choose to live this way are in rebellion against God, and are, in reality, relational train wrecks. As said above, the reasons for this are ultimately theological. Consider a few points.
First, that we may not, and should not, allow the clear distinctions between lust and love to be blurred. A couple who decides to partake in the glories of marriage before vowing to commitment in marriage are more in lust than they are in love. A man who decides to rebel against God in pursuing his lusts cannot possibly love the woman he is lusting after as Christ loves the church.
Second, the bed that the couple shares in cohabitation is not the bed that they will share in marriage. It is a common saying that lust seeks to fill the bed before the vows and then to empty it after them. Sex before marriage is nothing but selfishly taking from another individual. This is very different from the biblical picture of sex described as two people selflessly giving to each other. Lust is not a passive, lifeless reality; but one that is actively rebellious, desiring to kill and destroy.
Last, those who desire to have the consummation before the commitment ultimately distort the gospel. The saying is true that “love waits.” True, gospel-centered love, is content with the commitment that is now, and with the promised consummation that is not yet. The life in-between is one of patient endurance, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that clings to the promise in faith and looks with great expectation to the hope that is to come. But those who would have the consummation now communicate that there is no future hope, and that there is no Risen Christ who is trustworthy, good, and worth waiting for.
There is a right way to become married that glorifies the Christ who both ordains it as well as communicates through it (Eph 5). This same Christ, however, will not allow His Name to be profaned by a pseudo-union that is superficially bound by selfishness and lust. When two people, on the other hand, commit to each other, consummate the commitment, and move forward to live in a glorious marriage, they proclaim the Lord who selflessly and sacrificially died for His Church, who will come again in the great consummation, and who will live with them forever in glory.
While following the Lord, people often come to the end of their logical rope: Moses finds himself on the shore of the Red Sea with Pharaoh and his army pursuing; the people of Israel are led into the wilderness with no food or water; and even the multitudes along with the disciples find themselves following Christ to a remote area with only a few fish and a couple of loaves of bread to sustain them.
If we take our Bible seriously, these are not uncommon situations. More times than not Christ leads us to places where we are forced to ask: How do we survive now that we are here? We then logically search all options and are left with the helpless answer: I have no idea. When we come to the end of our logical rope, we have no other option but to look to Christ and simply trust what He says.
This is why the Word of God is so important. In it Christ informs and instructs us through seemingly impossible situations. He shows off that way. We are too often confined by the limits of our own logic and reason. Consequently, obedience becomes more difficult, and, in some cases not a "reasonable" option.
But when we listen to, and trust, the Word of the omniscient and omnipotent Lord, we finally find a Refuge where logic and reason are freed from the confines we place upon them. Christ alone has all the facts. Therefore, our faith in Him compels and frees us to leave the limits of our own inductive processes. And when we trust Him in doing so we finally receive logical reasons to trust, love, hope, and obey.
Christianity is not about leaving reason for blind faith. Quite the contrary, it is about being united, by faith, to the One who frees reason from the limits of the fallen human mind. In Christ, we do not know everything; but, we boast only in the fact that we know the One who knows everything. Faith in Christ therefore, is the only rational approach to life. Having said all of this, we can conclude (and even quote:) that man cannot live on his logic alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4).
This is a great quote from D.A. Carson in The God Who is Thereon how God is not merely the end of an argument after we have looked and analyzed all of the evidence. While many may think that they can observe all of nature in a non-theistic sort of way, on a neutral playing field, and make conclusions as to whether God exists or not, this practice is, at its core, morally rebellious as well as logically inconsistent. More on that later, but for now, here is Carson:
"At the end of the day God is not merely an inference, the end of an argument, the conclusion after we have cleverly aligned the evidence. But if you begin with this God, the testimony to his greatness in what we see all around us is heart stopping. It takes an enormous act of will on the part of even the most cynical of scientists instead to look at it all and say, "Ah, it's just physics. Stop admiring it. Don't do that. There's no design. It's just molecules bumping into molecules."
One of the most difficult of the Reformed doctrines is the doctrine of Limited Atonement. Most people recoil at first for decent reasons - they don't like to use the word limited to describe the work of Christ on the cross.
As noble as this may be, we may not allow our own goals to obscure the goals of our Triune God. Even further, as much as many might attempt to "unlimit" the atonement, it is almost impossible to propose any position at all that is without some type of limits. In other words, everyone limits the atonement whether they know it or not, either in scope or sufficiency.
Perhaps the best explanation of this truth is found in John Owen's The Death of Death. Here is a clip that is often sited because of its logical force regarding the topic (note: I will edit and comment on the section to allow for smoother reading):
Owen writes,
God imposed his wrath due unto, and Christ underwent the pains of hell for, either 1. all of the sins of all men, or 2. all the sins of some men, or 3. some sins of all men.
If the last, some sins of all men, then all men have some sins to answer for, and so shall no man be saved; for if God enter into judgment with us, though it were with all mankind for one sin, no flesh should be justified in his sight...
In other words, option 3 is eliminated. If Christ does not undergo the pains and punishment of hell for all of man's sins, then there will be at least some sins that man will have to account for. This view of the atonement is not sufficient to finally save.
If the second, that is it which we affirm, that Christ in their stead and room suffered for all the sins of all the elect in the world...
This is the Reformed doctrine stated and further advocated and explained in the rest of the book.
If the first, why, then, are not all freed from the punishment of all their sins? You will say, "Because of their unbelief; they will not believe." But this unbelief, is it a sin or not? If not, why should they be punished for it? If it be, then Christ underwent the punishment due to it, or not? If so, then why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which he died from partaking of the fruit of his death? If he did not, then did he not die for all their sins? Let them choose which part they will.
Owen's argument here makes Option 1 logically untenable. Unless one embraces Universalism, he/she must leave Option 1 in search for another.
If you have not read this book, and are aware of the debate as well as the implications surrounding it, I would highly recommend it to you. Owen is not easy to read, but the reward for treading the difficult pages is well worth it.
I have not posted anything in a few days. I just have not wanted to. It has been a rough week. One of the goals of this site, as well as my life in ministry, is to live among others with honesty and transparency. I have often said and observed that the church in America is far too clean - that is, we try hard to appear sinless to a sinful world; without struggle to a world who is barely treading the waters of reality. Consequently, our buildings are far from being a refuge to the very people Christ means to save.
With that said, I confess I have not followed through with my commitments to honesty and transparency. Even in confession, I confess those things that are respectable to confess. My wife convicted me about this the other night. When my world is dirty, I just can't handle it. Why? Because deep down I think I am far too clean.
Over the past month I have realized that my faith is weak. My idols are dressed in Christian clothes, and I have loved them more than I ought. All idols, however, die. They fall away. They revoke their promises. And they leave us empty. I was anchoring my life in things that were not Christ and I have been paying the price. Instead of a strong husband, father and pastor, I have been a weak roommate, babysitter and employee.
My hope has also been reduced to events that could not possibly exceed this life. As a matter of fact, the temporal reach of my hope has been less than just a few hours. I have relied on the promise of instant gratification, temporal pleasure, and fleeting comforts of sleep, laziness, and "being able to finally do what I want to do." Because of this, my fuse has been short, my patience almost nonexistent, and my levels of frustration extremely high.
Without faith securely in Christ, and without hope firmly fixed in glory, I have not been a loving human being. My life has been utterly selfish. I have only loved those who are loving in return. I have only served those who are able to serve in return. And as I sat in my misery yesterday, like a jacked up wimp, I understood the gospel at a deeper-than-intellectual level. My life was rooted in the sinking sand of earthly things, and as they shifted and sank, so did I.
But Christ is so different. His mercies truly are new every day. He is the Rock who is firmly fixed at the right hand of God the Father. Because He lives, He frees me to love others regardless of what they may offer me in return. This is the distinct nature of the Christian message - that our love for others is not dependent upon whether the other is sinful or not. Rather, our faith, hope and love are deeply rooted in the Rock of Christ who is coming again.
Even as I write this, I'm not feeling "fixed." This is a tough season that I can't seem to master. I feel like Jesus is sleeping in my boat. But I trust Him. And I trust He will keep me in His loving care until I die. That's about all I've got right now. And my Bible tells me that's enough.
Remembering 9/11:
Over the past year or so, I have been grateful for the photographical contributions of boston.com. The pics from Ground Zero are astonishing.
Social Issues:
The New York Times article, Soaring Poverty Casts Spotlight on 'Lost Decade,' quotes Harvard economics professor, “This is truly a lost decade...We think of America as a place where every generation is doing better, but we’re looking at a period when the median family is in worse shape than it was in the late 1990s.” The article discusses how the poverty level in America continues to increase.
To shed more light on the subject however, The Heritage Foundation has conducted a study to define what the census actually means when they say that a family is impoverished. The results of the study were published in an article entitled What is Poverty in the United States Today?The article discusses what the media and other officials have defined and identified as poverty and what poverty actually entails. An overgeneralized summary would be that the average "impoverished" American home may struggle to make ends meet, but they are struggling to pay for things like cable TV and air conditioning while putting food on the table.
Education: Homeschool Blindspots is a great post by Josh Harris. He is really reposting and commenting on an article by Reb Bradley in the Virginia Home Educator Magazine. I would suggest all homeschooling parents read this.
Michael Horton of the White Horse Inn gives the reasons why he advocates Classical Christian Education. One of the comments I appreciate is, "The Classical Christian Education takes full advantage of the way children learn. It goes with the grain instead of against it..." This is about a 3 min video and worth your time.
Electronics:
If you know me, you know that I am a sucker for gadgets. Unfortunately, I don't make enough money to like them too much! But, with the new iPhone launch just around the corner (probably in early October) I figured this article, 5 Ways to Dump Your Old Handset Before the iPhone 5, may be of some help.
Books:
Here is the book, Justification and Regeneration by Charles Leiter. I have not read this book, but because it is being offered for free by Challies, I am inclined to trust that it is solid.
The God Who Is There by D.A. Carson is a good primer for those seeking a fuller understanding of both Biblical and Systematic Theology. Each chapter carries a different predication to the subject phrase "The God Who Is..." This helps the reader keep the different attributes of God as well as the different phases of redemptive history under a single thematic umbrella. The book is not as tidy, nor as thorough as I would like; but it is very informative, simple and manageable. While Carson skims past the minor prophets, he does spend a good bit of well deserved time in the Pentateuch. I would say that this is a decent book for students of the Bible to have on their shelf.
The Envy of the World by Ellis Cose is a book about being a black man in America. While Cose does not address the issue from a distinctly Christian perspective, he does do a wonderful job describing the black experience in an honest, transparent, informative and clear way. "Being black in America," says Cose, "is a very complicated thing....Though this may be the best time ever to be a black man in America, you only prosper if you make it through the gauntlet. And that gauntlet is ringed with bullies armed with ugly half-truths with which they will try their damnedest to beat you to death...Your best chance at life lies in rejecting what they - what much of America - tells you that you are, perhaps rejecting, in the process, ideas you have harbored for most of your existence of what it means to be black and male."
Cose also discusses the culture's desire to emulate and even admire the uncivilized, strong, wild child identityof the black male. Many white folks are especially desirous to leave the stereotypically structured, boring, educated, goodie-goodie life for the more untamed life of the hood. The irony is that emulation and admiration is not ontologically the same as being black. People can stop imitation when it becomes inconvenient. The black man cannot.
The stereotypes have ironically and tragically become too often actualized. Therefore, while America may envy the black male, she is more likely to meet that black male on the streets with anxiety instead of admiration. I appreciate this book greatly. The perspectives that I have gained from this book have caused me to both repent and rejoice - repenting of my own racism, and rejoicing because of the blessing we have in America in the black culture.
Music:
Don't forget about the Holy Culture Drop CD. Here is a great article from Rapzilla about the project. In short, download the album for free here. Burn it to a CD. Print out the artwork. "Drop" it into someone's hands who needs to know Christ.
-A Body Of Divinity