John Newton wrote arguably one of the most famous hymns in modern history that told the story of his life. 1 Chronicles 17:16 was the verse that inspired him to write Faith's Review And Expectation. The verse reads, "And David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?" The verse of the song that reflects the 1 Chronicles passage reads this way - "Thro' many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; 'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home."

Newton composed a song originally known as Faith's Review and Expectation, which we know today as Amazing Grace—how sweet the sound, that sav'd a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see!" To be sure, the song is Amazing Grace, perhaps the most beloved song of all times. The original title was Faith's Review.

But who is the self-proclaimed "wretch" who wrote the song? John Newton was born in London, England on July 24, 1725, the son of a commander of a merchant ship which sailed the Mediterranean. In July 1732, thirteen days before his seventh birthday, death overcame his saintly mother who had since his third birthday been his teacher and mentor. He took the death of his mother hard and with much grief. He found no consolation from his father. Newton wrote of him, "I am persuaded that he loved me, but he seemed not willing that I should know it. I was with him in a state of fear and bondage. His sternness broke my spirit." John became quite bitter at God over his circumstance because he began as one author puts it, "a decline into rebellion and degradation that lasted until his twenty-fourth year." At eleven years of age he went to sea with his father and made six voyages with him before the elder Newton retired. In 1744, John was pressed into service on a man-of-war, the H.M.S. Harwich. The conditions on board were inhospitable and intolerable to him, so he deserted but was soon recaptured and publicly flogged and demoted from midshipman to seaman. Newton was exchanged into service on a slave trader that departed for Sierra Leone. He then became the servant of a slave trader and was brutally abused. Early in 1748 he was rescued by a sea captain who had known John's father. The slaves would often smuggle him food, and for him. He bore witness to the horrors and misery of the slave trade for the Africans in bondage. That experience represented a profound reflection of man's innate inhumanity and cruelty. It drove him to examine his own sinfulness. Amidst much soul-searching, he cried out to God, reflecting upon the teachings of his pious mother. It was several year later, however, he professed to be a true believer.

‘The crook in the lot’, says Boston, ‘is the great engine of providence for making men appear in their true colors’. C.S. Lewis referred to sufferings as ‘blockades on the road to hell’. The same sun that melts the ice also hardens the clay. Andrew Fuller declares, ‘Afflictions refine some, they consume others’. The test of a person’s Christianity is what happens in the storm, when the house is battered in the winds of affliction. The Apostle Paul told Timothy he must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Adversity refined John Newton, and made him into a humble saint. He knew he was a great sinner, and he needed a great savior. For John Newton, in 1764, he became a radical minister and an even greater songwriter. And God gets the glory in using the weak instruments like him. He was instrumental in encouraging his friend William Wilberforce, a parliamentarian who led the charge for the abolition of slavery. He is best remembered for his hymn Amazing Grace.

"I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be. Yet I can truly say, I am not what I once was."
—John Newton

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I've been reading a paperback copy of The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd by John Piper. It gives an account of the lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper and David Brainerd. The one character that I was drawn to was that of the famous Christian hymn writer William Cowper (pronounced Cooper.)

William Cowper was born in 1731 and died in 1800. That makes him a contemporary of John Wesley and George Whitefield, the leaders of the Evangelical Revival in England. He embraced Whitefield’s Calvinistic theology rather than Wesley’s Arminianism. But it was a warm, evangelical brand of Calvinism, shaped (in Cowper’s case) largely by one of the healthiest men in the eighteenth century, the “old African blasphemer,” John Newton. Cowper said he could remember how, as a child, he would see the people at four o’clock in the morning coming to hear Whitefield preach in the open air. “Moorfields [was] as full of the lanterns of the worshipers before daylight as the Haymarket was full of flambeaux on opera nights.”

From the standpoint of adventure or politics or public engagement, his life was utterly uneventful—the kind of life no child would ever choose to read about. But those of us who are older have come to see that the events of the soul are probably the most important events in life. And the battles in this man’s soul were of epic proportions.

From the standpoint of adventure or politics or public engagement, his life was utterly uneventful—the kind of life no child would ever choose to read about. But those of us who are older have come to see that the events of the soul are probably the most important events in life. And the battles in this man’s soul were of epic proportions.
—Piper, John. The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd. (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2001), p. 85.

Cowper rarely found his work fulfilling, and it was more his father's ideal of what he should do than his own:

From 1749 he was apprenticed to a solicitor with a view to practicing law. At least this was his father’s view. He never really applied himself and had no heart for the public life of a lawyer or a politician. For ten years he did not take his legal career seriously but lived a life of leisure with token involvement in his supposed career.
—Piper, John. The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd. (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2001), p. 86.

In 1752, he was struck by a paralyzing depression, which he recollected in his memoirs:

[I was struck] with such a dejection of spirits, as none but they who have felt the same, can have the least conception of. Day and night I was upon the rack, lying down in horror, and rising up in despair. I presently lost all relish for those studies, to which before I had been closely attached; the classics had no longer any charms for me; I had need of something more salutary than amusement, but I had no one to direct me where to find it.
—Piper, John. The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd. (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2001), pp. 86-87.

John Piper writes, "In 1752 he sank into his first paralyzing depression—the first of four major battles with mental breakdown so severe as to set him to staring out of windows for weeks at a time. Struggle with despair came to be the theme of his life. He was twenty-one years old and not yet a believer" (p. 86.)

So in December 1763 he was committed to St. Albans Insane Asylum, where the fifty-eight-year-old Dr. Nathaniel Cotton tended the patients. Cotton was somewhat of a poet, but most of all, by God’s wonderful design, an evangelical believer and a lover of God and the Gospel. He loved Cowper and held out hope to him repeatedly in spite of his insistence that he was damned and beyond hope. Six months into his stay, Cowper found a Bible lying (not by accident) on a bench.
—Piper, John. The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd. (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2001), p. 92.

Though, fearing damnation, Cowper came to believe that he was not utterly forsaken of God. He felt compelled to turn to the Bible for answers. The first that seered his conscience was Romans 3:25: “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (KJV). Of this magnanimous discovery, he wrote:

Immediately I received the strength to believe it, and the full beams of the Sun of Righteousness shone upon me. I saw the sufficiency of the atonement He had made, my pardon sealed in His blood, and all the fullness and completeness of His justification. In a moment I believed, and received the gospel... Whatever my friend Madan had said to me, long before, revived in all its clearness, with demonstration of the spirit and with power. Unless the Almighty arm had been under me, I think I should have died with gratitude and joy. My eyes filled with tears, and my voice choked with transport; I could only look up to heaven in silent fear, overwhelmed with love and wonder.
—Piper, John. The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd. (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2001), pp. 93-94.

He had come to love Dr. Cotton so much that he stayed on another twelve months after his conversion. Though one might wish the story were one of emotional triumph after his conversion, he continued to struggle with depression. One of Cowper's most renowned hymns, 'There is a Fountain Filled with Blood,' contained these heartening words: "The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day, and there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away," wrote Cowper.

"Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be until I die."
—William Cowper

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
—William Cowper, God Moves In A Mysterious Way

"No man is more relevant to the present condition of Christianity than Jonathan Edwards."
—D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

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The pious Congregational minister Jonathan Edwards knew and preached the beauties of heaven as much as the terrors of damnation. He was a humble and joyful servant of God, striving to glorify God in his personal life and public ministry. His ministry serves a light to future generations. And his renown as a theologian and philosopher is well deserved. A God-Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor chronicles the theological work of the late Jonathan Edwards, and elucidates upon some of the core themes of Edwards' ministry. Lutheran theologian Robert W. Jenson calls Edwards "America's theologian."

Jonathan Edwards, born on October 5, 1703, was the son of Timothy Edwards (1668–1759), a minister at East Windsor, Connecticut (modern day South Windsor.) His mother, Esther Stoddard was the daughter of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of Northampton, Massachusetts. Esther seems to have been a woman of profound intellect and independence of mind. Jonathan, their only son, was the fifth of eleven children. Jonathan was trained for college by his family. He entered Yale College in 1716, at just under the age of thirteen. On February 15, 1727, he was ordained minister at Northampton Congregational Christian church and assistant to his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. That same year, Edwards married Sarah Pierpont. She was then aged seventeen and daughter of James Pierpont (1659–1714), a founder of Yale University and, and through her mother, great-granddaughter of Thomas Hooker.

In the late 1730s, the Puritan congregations, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, presided over a Great Awakening, which in turn, sparked revival in the churches, and invigorated believers in their faith, and brought in new converts. Edwards became acquainted with George Whitefield during this time. He also preached his most famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" in Enfield, Connecticut in 1741. Though, the Edwards who could warn people of God's wrath against sin, could also speak of the sweetness and joy of Christ. One of the core themes of the Puritans that they derived from Holy Scriptures was the holiness of God. From God's holiness emanates not only his justice, which entails wrath against sin, but also his love, which entails grace for believers, on account of Christ's righteousness.

Common to all of Edwards' theology and piety was a passion for God's glory. As a young man he reveled in what he called "sweet contemplations of my great and glorious God" and claimed, "Absolute sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God." In a work entitled The End for Which God Created the World (1765). Edwards carefully and logically defended the position that God's ultimate purpose is to glorify himself in all his works. Edwards applied this great truth to his own ministry as a pastor, theologian, scholar, and missionary by making it his passion to proclaim God's glory."
—Boice, James M. and Phillip Ryken, The Doctrines of Grace: Rediscovering the Evangelical Gospel, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002,) p. 49.

Edwards' theology, succinctly stated, could be encapsulated by the Westminster Shorter Cathecism's proclamation that "Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

Jonathan Edwards was a tense, highly focused, and very intelligent man, a person of many parts. Ambitious too, while reserved and austere, as he himself recognized. Not just a preacher and revivalist, as he has come to be known to us through evangelical tradition, but a theologian, a philosopher, and a scientist. Part of the romance—or tragedy—of Edwards’ life is that he took it upon himself to play radically different roles at one and the same time. But he seems to have played each of these roles with characteristic thoroughness and commitment.
—Piper, John. A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards. (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2004), p. 175.

Our reason for being, our calling, our joy is to render visible the glory of God. Edwards writes:

All that is ever spoken of in the Scripture as an ultimate end of God’s works is included in that one phrase, the glory of God. . . . The refulgence shines upon and into the creature, and is reflected back to the luminary. The beams of glory come from God, and are something of God and are refunded back again to their original. So that the whole is of God, and in God, and to God, and God is the beginning, middle and end in this affair.
—Edwards, Jonathan, “The Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World,” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 8, Ethical Writings, ed. Paul Ramsey (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1989), 526, 531.

One of the core themes of Edwards' theology is that 'God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him:'

The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean. Therefore it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey toward heaven, as it becomes us to make the seeking of our highest end and proper good, the whole work of our lives; to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labour for, or set our hearts on, any thing else, but that which is our proper end, and true happiness?
—Edwards, Jonathan, “The Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World,” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 8, Ethical Writings, ed. Paul Ramsey (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1989), 531.

The Influence of the Puritans
Edwards belonged to a sect known as the Puritans who encompassed the earliest English migrants to the New World. C.S. Lewis said, "We must picture these Puritans as the very opposite of those who bear that name today: as young, fierce, progressive intellectuals, very fashionable and up-to-date. They were not teetotallers; bishops, not beer, were their special aversion..." For many generations, these Puritans were the "young bucks" who wanted to go all the way with God and the Bible.

If ever a group of Christians sought to glorify God in everything, it was the Puritans. Although the term "Puritan" has often been used as an insult, the Puritans themselves were simply Christians who wanted to honor God in their worship and doctrine. Richard Baxter, himself a leading Puritan pastor, defined them as "religious persons that used to talk of God, and heaven, and Scripture, and holiness." Their worldview is perhaps best encapsulated in the first answer in the Westminster Shorter Catechism: "Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever."
—Boice, James M. and Phillip Ryken, The Doctrines of Grace: Rediscovering the Evangelical Gospel, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002.)

The Puritan's desire was for a yearning for the Holiness of God, and that deep yearning for the divine was nurtured amidst the sorrows and afflictions of life—and reinforced by the fellowship of believers. Puritan professed an abiding faith in the promises of God revealed in revelation. Their religious affections reflected their desire for righteousness. They saw providence in every aspect of life, and believed unflinchingly in the sovereignty of God. At the heart of Puritan theology was a concern for God's sovereignty: "God the great creator of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness and mercy" (Westminster Confession of Faith, Chp. 5. §1.)

God was to be praised even in the midst of loss, because the Almighty used even our afflictions and trials for our sanctification. ‘When God lays men on their backs, then they look up to heaven’, says Thomas Watson. ‘The vessels of mercy are first seasoned with affliction and then the wine of glory is poured in.’ Hence, even in the midst of loss, Puritans could savor the joy of God in eternity (2 Corinthians 4:17-18.)

The earliest Puritans were all English Calvinists who hoped to turn the entire Church of England into a Presbyterian national church—like Scotland's—and all of England into a Christian commonwealth modeled after Geneva. As the Elizabethan settlement became clearer and more firmly entrenched, they raised their voices in protest against what they considered 'popish' elements in the Anglican theology, worship and polity. That is, they considered the Church of England under Elizabeth and Hooker and the various archbishops of Canterbury too close to Roman Catholicism, and they sought to purge it and purify it of those 'Romish' beliefs and practices. All of them wanted to abolish the office of bishop and allow congregations to have greater say in choosing their ministers. They despised the Book of Common Prayer and sought simpler worship centered upon sermons. Most of them saw priestly vestments, incense, high altars, kneeling and genuflecting, and statues in churches as pernicious symbols of unbiblical, Catholic tendencies in the English churches. the label 'Puritan' was attached to them because of their desire to purify the English church of such traditions and bring it into conformity with their own vision of true Reformed theology and practice.
—Olson, Roger E., The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1999), 496.

The Puritans were not in lockstep unity, however, as they were divided over issues concerning baptism and the organization of church polity.

In the early decades of the seventeenth century the Puritans began to quarrel among themselves over the exact nature of the ideal church. Some of them wanted to stay with the Church of England no matter what and keep trying to reform it. Others insisted that the state church was hopelessly corrupt and polluted beyond reforming. These Puritans separated from the Anglican church and formed independent churches that followed a congregational form of church polity. Each church would be autonomous and self-governing, calling its own pastor and deciding on worship and practices. Among these radical, separatist Puritans were the so-called Pilgrims who settled first in Holland to escape persecution from the English government and then traveled on the Mayflower to to Massachusetts Bay in New England and founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. During the decade of the 1630s, thousands of Puritans left England and settled in New England wit the hope of establishing a Christian commonwealth. Most of them became congregationalists when they arrived in the New World, whereas the favored church polity of most Puritans was presbyterian.
—Olson, Roger E., The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1999), 496.

Another distinctive hallmark of Puritan theology was the covenant relationship between God and His elect:

Puritan divines faced one of the dilemmas of Calvinism head-on and sought to solve it through what is known as federal, or covenant theology. While this type of thinking about God's relationship with humanity was developed among Calvinists before the heyday of Puritanism, it was the Puritans—especially in New England—who made it central to their whole theology. One dilemma faced especially by Puritan Calvinists of New England was this: If human are to strive for conversion and sanctification (signs of grace,) how is it compatible with divine sovereignty in predestination? In other words, how may strong belief in predestination be reconciled with equally strong insistence on Puritan piety? For "if predestination affirms the ultimacy and final efficiency of God's choice, piety urges at least some effective free participation on the part of the human subject." A related dilemma was this: If God is so sovereign that His will is not bound by anything, including his own nature and character, how can believers ever be sure of their election? The underlying nominalism or at least divine voluntarism within high Calvinism raised this question intensely for Puritans who sought assurance of election through signs of grace. How can one trust God not to be capricious? Are the elect secure, or might God change His mind?

The solution to these and other problems was found in covenant theology, which affirms that God has initiated and bound himself to contracts with humans. The first covenant God offered to Adam and Eve was the covenant of works. God promise to bless them in paradise so long as they obeyed him and did not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The covenant of works was broken by humans and the result was exactly what the contract required—condemnation and corruption for covenant breakers. The Puritans assumed that all of Adam and Eve's posterity were born covenant breakers. They accepted the strong Augustinian idea that, as they put it, "in Adam's fall we sinned all." Part of the covenant of works was the condition that if original humans failed in their obligations, their posterity would suffer corruption and condemnation. God's covenants are not just with individuals. They are collective and apply to groups in history.

Covenant theology posited a second contract God mercifully established with fallen humanity—the covenant of grace. According to it, "God's promises of redemption and renewal are to those who will receive them in faith and respond to them in obedience. The good news is proclaimed but a requirement is exacted. The covenant of grace requires only that humans be sorrowful for their sinfulness, believe God and trust in his promises (e.g., to provide a perfect sacrifice for sin,0 and strive to glorify him in their lives. As the nineteenth century gospel song says, "Trust and obey.
"—Olson, Roger E., The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1999), 501-502.

Additionally, another climatic "hallmark of Puritan theology was the ideal of a Christianized society:

New England Puritans especially believed fervently in what has been called theonomy, or "kingdom now theology." That is, they believed that one of the God's promises in the covenant is not only to bless individuals, families and the church for trusting and obeying but also to bless human society if it will strive for godliness in its order. The Puritans believed in God's promises of blessing to Israel applies to them as extension of Israel under the second phase of covenant of grace known as the new covenant. The church is the 'New Israel' and the kingdom of God on earth is promise to it if it permeates all of human society and brings social structures into confirmity with God's law. When the Puritans exiled themselves from England in the 1630s, they sought a New World where this Christian commonwealth (modeled after Calvin's Geneva) could be built unhindered by the godless crown and impure state church. They saw North America as the promised land and sought to occupy it for God and his kingdom.
—Olson, Roger E., The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1999), 503.

After leaving Northhampton, Jonathan Edwards declined posts in Virginia and England to become, in 1750, pastor of the congregational church in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and a missionary to the Housatonic Indians. To the Indians, Edwards preached the Gospel message through an interpreter. Their interests Edwards boldly and successfully defended by decrying the whites who were exploiting and oppressing the Indians. Edwards believed that the Gospel should be preached in earnest to all peoples throughout the Americas.

Closing Salvos
So, do we need the Puritans today? It is no understatement to say that the rebound of Reformed theology in the late 1990s and twenty-first century owes to the resurgence of interests in the old Puritans. Christianity Today journalist Collin Hansen recently chronicled the popularity of Reformed theology with young twenty-somethings, in his book Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists, which grew out of a 2006 article in Christianity Today:

In many ways the Calvinist resurgence that Piper is leading owes more to the British Puritans than even Calvin or any other stream of Reformed theology. John Owen, known for penetrating insight into sanctification, emerged as the top theologian from the era of Puritan rule in Britain. John Bunyan endured persecution for his Puritan faith and produced the defining work of Christian pilgrimage literature, Pilgrim's Progress. Charles Spurgeon, a Baptist like Bunyan, zealously evangelized and during 1800s built possibly the world's first megachurch. Jonathan Edwards, the only American whose portrait hung in the library, died nearly two decades before the colonies became the United States. In recommending Desiring God, J.I. Packer said, "Jonathan Edwards, whose ghost walks through most of Piper's pages, would be delighted in his disciple."
—Hansen, Collin. Young, Restless, and Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists. (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2008), p. 35.

Related Reading:

Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University

The English Puritan's Beginnings - A Puritan's Mind

The Example of the English Puritans - Fire and Ice: Puritan and Reformed Writings

In Defence of the Puritans - Fire and Ice: Puritan and Reformed Writings

The Pilgrims & Puritans: Total Reformation for the Glory of God - Fire and Ice: Puritan and Reformed Writings

"God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him."
—John Piper

"Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness."
—Genesis 15:6

Solomon Stoddard, (the grandfather of Jonathan Edwards,) wrote in his book The Righteousness of Christ, the summation of the righteousness of the law:

It is sufficient for us if we have the righteousness of the law. There is no danger of our miscarrying if we have that righteousness. The security of the angels in Heaven is that they have the righteousness of the law, and it is a sufficient security for us if we have the righteousness of the law. If we have the righteousness of the law, then we are not liable to curse of the law. We are not threatened by the law; justice is not provoked with us; the condemnation of the law can take no hold upon us; the law has nothing to object against our salvation. The soul that has the righteousness of the law is out of the reach of the threatenings of the law. Where the demand of the law is answered, God has bound himself to give eternal life. Such persons are heirs to give eternal life. Such are heirs of life, according to the promise of the law. The law declared them heirs of life, Galatians 3:12, 'The man that doth them, shall live in them.'

One of the hallmarks of the Reformation was the doctrine of imputation. It is by the imputation of Christ's righteousness on the basis of faith that believers are justified in the eyes of God. Through, Christ, our sin debt is wiped clean, and we are reconciled to God the Father in love. Stoddard's remarks ultimately hearken to the doctrine of imputation.

According to the Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms, imputation is "a transfer of benefit or harm from one individual to another. In theology imputation may be used negatively to refer to the transfer of the sin and guilt of Adam to the rest of humankind. Positively, imputation refers to the righteousness of Christ being transfered to those who believe on him for salvation."

In Romans 4:3 Paul quotes Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.” Thus the idea of “imputation” is introduced by the word “credited” from Genesis 15:6. This idea of imputation or crediting is introduced in connection with Romans 4:2 to show that Abraham was not “justified by works.” (“If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about.”) So Paul is forging the link here between “justification” and “imputation.” We know, Paul says, that Abraham was not “justified” by works because Genesis 15:6 says “faith was credited to him for righteousness.” Thus we learn that when Paul thinks of the justifying work of God he thinks of the imputing or crediting work of God. How then does Paul conceive of this crediting or imputing work of God? There are clues as we consider the flow of thought through verses 4-6.
—Piper, John. Counted Righteous in Christ: Should We Abandon the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness. (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2002), pp. 54-55.

Did Jesus Die on the Cross and Bring the Gospel Message Into the World So You Could Own BMW and be rich? I was watching TV once at a friend's house, and we were channel surfing and stumbled upon televangelist Joel Osteen, and stopped long enough to hear him say, "You can have a better life, a better car, a better house..." In other words, he is just appealing to touchy-feely positive messages, the health-and-wealth non-sense. It's about making people feel good in much the same way secular humanist psychologist Abraham Maslow can speak of gratification of our needs and our self-actualization! It's holier than thou heterodoxy garbled in religiosity and "Christian clothing" for the spoiled "me generation" of the 1960s. Before I could just accuse Joel of being a fluff preacher, until I heard of the Larry King interview with Olsteen. In a nutshell, Joel struggles to affirm that Christ is truly the only way! Having said that, it's all the more reason to devote an expose of a false teacher... Joel tacitly denies John 14:6 when asked about the salvation of Jews and Muslims who have not accepted Christ: "You know, I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to heaven. I don't know ..." There are hundreds, even thousands of Joel Osteens—errant, false prosperity theologians who preach idolatry wrapped and clothed as "Gospel" and echoing the name of "Jesus." Millions are deceived into believing that Christianity promises near-Heaven on Earth—as if prayer can be used as incantations for summoning wealth.

Christ is gain. It is true that every blessing is a providence of God. God's design for this natural order to reward deliberation, hard work, labor, frugality and saving over the course of time. Indeed, God does prosper many of His flock. But "Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother,..." (Ps. 49:6) Job was counted blessed of God, and was prospered after much suffering, but prosperity is not promised—none whatsoever on this earth. Prosperity is part of God's common grace, and ironically too, the Bible admits that riches are a stumbling block to all men. Riches impedes their desire for spiritual concerns. God often humbles His servants first in preparation for a blessing that they might be exalted.

This life is a vapor. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Mt. 6:18-20.) As Stonewall Jackson used to quote to his wife, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." (2 Cor. 5:1) Where are your treasures?

Related Reading:
Joel Osteen: False Teacher

Saved from an addiction to methamphetamines and a life of sin, guitarist Brian Welch experienced a radical Saul to Paul transformation when he was called out by God to be a Christian. Read it about on his web site Head to Christ.

Today, is the set day in observance of the atoning death, burial and resurrection of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (John 19:30-31; Mark 16:1; Mark 16:6).

A Psalm of David.

1 The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell[a] in the house of the LORD
Forever.

Sex and the Supremacy of Christ by John Piper (Editor), Justin Taylor (Editor), Ben Patterson, David Powlison, R. Albert Mohler Jr., Mark Dever, Michael Lawrence, Matt Schmucker, Scott Croft, C. J. Mahaney, Carolyn McCulley, Carolyn Mahaney. $15.99.


I've blogged about just about everything from current affairs to economics to history to politics to theology, so why not sex? Albeit sex from a Christian perspective. Genesis 2:18 notes, "The LORD God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.'" So, God made Eve for Adam, and thus this blogpost got inspired.

To kick off this feature, here is an excerpt from a tongue-in-cheek chat conversation this past summer with one of my mischievous, albeit humorous Christian friends. And to protect the innocent, we will just call him Scott, since that's his name.

4:37 PM	Scott: something a friend of mine did is both amusing and outlandish - very in the spirit of certain gadfly PB posts of late he posted a countdown on his website me: what's that? oh
4:38 PM	Scott: entitled: "Sex Time! (aka marriage aka, lifelong comittment, etc...)" - 34 days and counting down his fiancee's response: Umm... THAT does not start at 6:30 ;) But I love you and am looking forward to you! me: did i just hear the s word?
4:39 PM	me: there is more to marriage than just making love to a woman... okay lets see there is... hmmm... still thinking... uggh well hmmm well, i'll have to get back to you on that but i am sure there is something else to marriage :P lol
4:40 PM	Scott: lol

Please utilize Adobe Acrobat. Click here to download the Adobe Acrobat PDF version of this book from Desiring God.



Recently, in 2005, Crossway Publishers released an anthology of essays entitled Sex and the Supremacy of Christ edited by pastors John Piper and Justin Taylor. For many Christians, it's a taboo subject—unspoken but sometimes tacitly alluded to. What this book does is go beneath the surface, and examine a pivotal issue in light of Scriptural teaching. Sex is how us humans go about procreation. It's also a recreation.

God has a design for this: and the model sexual relationship between a man and a woman is based upon monogamy within the confines of holy matrimony (Genesis 2:24). Monogamy is the condition of having only one mate in a relationship, thus forming a couple. The word monogamy comes from the Greek word monos, which means one or alone, and the Greek word gamos, which means marriage. (It does NOT mean serial monogomy however. i.e., a series of long- or short-term, exclusive sexual relationships entered into consecutively over the lifespan.) Intimacy of this kind, (that is monogamy,) is subsumed in marriage vows, lifelong commitment, trust, and mutual fealty. God does NOT sanction sex outside of marriage which is fornication, which is sinful and not at all characteristic of the new man in Christ (1 Cor. 6:9-10; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; 1 Pet. 4:3). The Scriptures tell us to "flee fornication," and to "flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness" (1 Cor. 6:18, 2 Tim. 2:22). In other words, avoid all sexual lasciviousness like the plague.

In accordance with Scripture, Michael Lawrence observes that:

Sexual intimacy is all about union. Physically, of course, that's obvious. But there's so much more. In sexual intimacy, we also know a union that is emotional, as our hearts are knit together even as our bodies are. We know a union that is intellectual, as we come to understand and know one another in intimate detail. We know a union that is even spiritual, for as every married couple figures out, the best sex isn't when I make sure I get what I want, but when I forget about myself, and give myself for the blessing and delight of my spouse. And at that moment, we are very close to the heart of Christ, "who loved the church and gave himself up for her" (Eph 5:25).
—Lawrence, Michael, Sex Is Not About Waiting. Boundless. 7 Dec. 2006.

Because, a multitude of people in this day and age are not willing to accept the consequences of sex (namely children,) and it's often times pursued merely at convenience and not within the confines of holy matrimony, there is a widespread societal disconnect between sex as God intended it to be and the popular conception of sexuality which is promiscuous and without real commitment. Increasingly, many people want to separate sex from its consequences, but they cannot. It's no coincidence that sexual primuiscuity has correlated with a significant rise in sex-out-of-wedlock relationships, divorce, the proliferation of pornography, the rampant proliferation of venereal disease, and the rise of abortion-on-demand since its ostensible 'legalization' in the U.S. in the 1973.

Why exchange marriage vows? Why wait? Marriage signifies a life-long commitment, and the solemnity and sacredness attached to the occasion inculcates the integrity of the ordinance of marriage in the hearts of the marrying party. Marriage is about lasting love, trust, mutual fealty, commitment, and compassion, and sexual intimacy is not what defines marriage, but complimentary to it.

Biblical Greek scholars know that "agape" in Greek speaks of a deep, intimate, selfless, and unconditional love. But "phileo" on the other hand is sort of a casual, friendly brotherly type of love. When Jesus asked of Simon Peter do you agape love me, Peter could only say he phileo loved his Savior. Jesus repeated the query, and Peter responded again in similar fashion. Jesus finally changed his query to do you phileo love me? (John 21:15-17) An underlying message can be drawn out of that message—specifically as it relates to Christian marriage. First, work on the brotherly love before laying claim to the unconditional love. Next, those living expressions of phileo and agape must be realized following marriage vows before laying hold of any claim to eros (i.e., erotic love.) If we are not ready for the commitment of the former love, trust and communion, than we are simply not ready for the later physical intimacy and marriage.

The Puritans have been derided as sexually-repressed prudes by modern secularists. While the Puritans sheltered public exhibitionism in favor of chastity, they extolled the purity and virtue of marital intimacy in fact. The Puritans rested their societal norms on a foundational expectation of public chastity and modesty precisely to guard the sanctity of marital intimacy from temptation. In their view:

Marriage was a gift from God that established two Christians as partners in grace. One of its purposes was edification; husbands and wives were to encourage each other in spiritual things. at the same time, the Puritans viewed marriages as a romance. This was virtually an innovation, for the Renaissance ideal was courtly love, in which romance transgressed the boundaries of marital fidelity. But the Puritans combined love and matrimony to promote the Biblical ideal of romantic marriage—a passionate partnership in which even the sexual act of love (or "due benevolence," as they called it) was a means of glorifying God in the body. To summarize, the Puritans viewed marriage as a "high, holy and blessed order of life, ordained not of man, but of God, ...wherein one man and one woman are coupled and knit together in one flesh and one body in the fear and love of God, by the free, loving, hearty, and good consent of them both, to the intent that they too may dwell together as one flesh and one body, of one will and mind, in all honesty, virtue and godliness, and spend their lives in equal partaking of all such things as God shall send them with thanksgiving.
—Boice, James Montgomery, and Phillip Ryken, The Doctrines of Grace: Rediscovering the Evangelical Gospel. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2005,) p. 46.

"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."
—Genesis 2:24

Awww. That's so sweet. I'm gonna cry. NOT!

Love and marriage can yield a fruitful, satisfying relationship when properly nurtured, and a relationship to conducive to happiness, joy, and emotional and spiritual well-being. The secret to having a successful marriage from a Biblical perspective is abiding in Christ and His Word. Jesus says in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.” Abiding in Christ, entails sexual morality, and for a married couple their desire must be for another, and no one else. That's a significant part of the "one flesh" concept. The essence of sincere, marital love, Martin Luther argued, was wholehearted devotion to the good and well-being of one's spouse:

Where conjugal chastity is to be maintained, husband and wife must, above all things, live together in love and harmony, so that one cherishes the other wholeheartedly and with complete fidelity. This whole-hearted devotion is one of the chief requirements in the creation of a love and desire for chastity. Where it is found, chastity will follow as a matter of course, without any command. Therefore St. Paul (Eph. 5:22-25) so diligently admonishes married people to love and honor each other. Conjugal love or the desire to marry is a natural affection, implanted and inspired by God. Therefore conjugal love is praised so highly in Scripture and is so frequently adduced as an example of the relations existing between Christ and His Christendom.
—John Piper and Justin Taylor, Sex and the Supremacy of God. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2005,) p. 240.

There is a strong emotional attachment to sexual intimacy, and there is likewise strong emotional withdrawal when a person one is intimate with is suddenly removed from the scene. God never intended men/women to be promiscuous, and even the pagans lament the perils of promiscuity. Christians should deplore the way of the world, which is: Hook up. Shack up. Break up. The pleasures of sin only last a season (Heb. 11:25). The world says immediate gratification, whereas the Bible more or less tells us that marriage embodies life-long commitment, mutual fealty, unconditional love, and a spirit of self-sacrifice and trust.

Again, in point of emphasis, God's design for sex is between a man and woman, and such a relationship is only properly consummated only within the bonds of holy matrimony. For those that stumble into sexual immorality, there is forgiveness in Christ with repentance. However, there is no guaranteed immunity from the emotional withdrawal and the guilt of sexual immorality. Sin has consequences.


C.J. Mahaney Sermon on Sex and the Supremacy of Christ

The Holy Scriptures reminds us that the intimate love of physical intimacy is something to be belated (Song of Solomon 8:4), but nonetheless something to be embraced with joy within the confines of holy matrimony. The tenor of Scriptures is quite clear that there is no shame in intimacy so long as it is within the bonds of marriage between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24-25). Sex within marriage is God-glorifying, and a married couple can approach physical intimacy with a clean conscience before God. Ben Patterson writes:

The Goodness of Sex and the Glory of God
“My lover is mine, and I am his”—this formula appears at key points in the Song to emphasize the exclusivity of the lovers’ commitment to each other. It is also a formula on the human level of what is true of God and his people (Hos. 2:23). In the context of this glorious, amorous, monogamous exclusivity her lover “feeds among the lilies!” The covenant promise has an erotic dimension: they belong to each other to the fullest, and they may and will enjoy each other to the fullest. “Lilies” or “lotuses” describe not only the beauty of the beloved, but are metaphors for a man’s lips (5:13), and the part of a woman’s body surrounding her breasts (4:5). She enjoys this so thoroughly that she wants it to last all night: “Before the dawn comes and the shadows flee away, come back to me, my love.” Specifically, she wants him to “run like a gazelle or a young stag on the rugged mountains.” Here she visualizes him enjoying her “mountains,” the contours and clefts of her body (cf. 4:6). He too waxes eloquent with a flurry of metaphors and similes to stimulate the imagination of the most unimaginative reader.

“How beautiful are your sandaled feet, O queenly maiden. Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a skilled craftsman. Your navel is as delicious as a goblet filled with wine. Your belly is lovely, like a heap of wheat set about with lilies. Your breasts are like twin fawns of a gazelle. Your neck is as stately as an ivory tower. Your eyes are like the sparkling pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is as fine as the tower of Lebanon overlooking Damascus. Your head is as majestic as Mount Carmel, and the sheen of your hair radiates royalty. A king is held captive in your queenly tresses. Oh, how delightful you are, my beloved; how pleasant for utter delight! You are tall and slim like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters of dates. I said, ‘I will climb up into the palm tree and take hold of its branches.’ Now may your breasts be like grape clusters, and the scent of your breath like apples. May your kisses be as exciting as the best wine, smooth and sweet, flowing gently over lips and teeth” (7:1-9, NLT).

Put simply, he feels about her the way a student expressed to me his love for his fiancée: “I look at her ... and I can’t breathe!” Breasts like grape clusters? A navel like a goblet of wine? Thighs as finely shaped as jewels? Is this really in the Bible, the Word of God? It really is! How wholesome and richly erotic sex can be when enjoyed in the ways and within the context God intended. How much better it is than the cheap, toxic ways the world recommends. Contrast the joy of this text with the confusion and shame a young man experiences as he walks past the lingerie in the window display of a Victoria’s Secret store...

What are the theological foundations for this celebration of sex—and what does it have to do with the glory of God? The gigantic secret of the joy of sex is this: Sex is good because the God who created sex is good. And God is glorified greatly when we receive his gift with thanksgiving and enjoy it the way he meant for it to be enjoyed. The reason we like sex so much is that it is a little bit like the God who created it. Therefore, the more sex is enjoyed in ways redolent of its Creator, the better sex is for all involved—to God’s glory and our sanctification and joy. The church father Irenaeus nearly reduced it to a formula when he said, “The glory of God is man fully alive, and the life of man is the vision of God.” The vision of God: that’s where the theological foundations come in. I think there are five.
—John Piper and Justin Taylor, Sex and the Supremacy of God. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2005,) pp. 53-54; 55.

My friend Brad Cochran, a seminary student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, wrote this thoughtful article entitled Sexual Immorality: The Cheapening of Pleasure. Here is an excerpt:

GOD CREATED SEX. Yeah, that's what I said. God created sex and therefore, He knows best how sex is supposed to work. He intends for us to get much pleasure out of it. In fact, if we have any faith in God (or any experience of real love in the context of marriage) we should trust that sex is more enjoyable when it is stewarded according to God’s standards. God’s not a kill-joy—He just knows what’s best for our everlasting joy and pleasure. If we put God first and handle our sexuality the way God intended, we would not only have a better society, but we would get more pleasure out of sex, and more joy and long-term fulfillment out of our relationships. We settle for such cheap, temporary, destructive, weak pleasures that we miss the intense, eternal, all-satisfying and ultimate pleasure which comes from the hand of God.

Related Articles:
Boundless - The Best Sex (Is Never Premarital Sex) by Anne Morse
Boundless - Girls and Sex by J. Budziszewski
Boundless - Sex Is Not About Waiting by Michael Lawrence
ChristianAnswers.com - Why should I save sex for marriage?
Ensor, John, Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart
Reformissionary - Sex and the Supremacy of Christ

Related Videos:
Sex and the Supremacy of Christ
Christian Hedonists or Religious Prudes? The Puritans on Sex
Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God: What Every Christian Husband Needs to Know
Homosexual “Marriage”: A Tragic Oxymoron. Biblical and Cultural Reflections
The Goodness of Sex and the Glory of God
Making All Things New: Restoring Pure Joy to the Sexually Broken
Speaker Interviews #1
Speaker Interviews #2

"I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases."
—Song of Solomon 8:4

"Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart."
—2 Timothy 2:22

The Real-Life Phenomenon of Quicksand!
I've been in hollows in Virginia and North Carolina that few people know about... from the Back Bay, to the Dismal Swamp, to the gator-infested banks of the Cape Fear. In these areas, one is keenly aware of the phenomenon of quicksand, which can form just about anywhere. Though, it is especially common in environs with sandy soil and within the vicinity of a large body of water, swamps or groundwater streams. I do believe as a teenager, I lost a shoe to the sandy mire one time.

Real Quicksand is a bed of loose sand, silt or clay mixed with water, which forms a soft malleable shifting mass that yields easily to pressure and tends to engulf objects that tread across its surface. Through the centuries, the geological phenomenon has been a source of fear in the popular imagination. It may even appear solid to the human eye. The fear it elicits, often owes to the suddenness we experience it. Unfortunately, humans and animals have been found in the depths of quicksand, so it can prove fatal and the danger should not be underestimated. Though, generally quicksand is misrepresented in the movies as an albatross abyss larger than life that swallows people whole. In reality, the geological formation is seldom a few inches to a few feet deep.

Real Quicksand is actually more buoyant than water. When a person is faced with this awful predicament, the idea is not to resist vigorously, but to spread your arms and legs wide, and attempt to float and gain buoyancy which is entirely possible because of the physics involved. Many however dig themselves deeper into the mire because they kick, squirm, and fight vigorously.

Real Quicksand offers an analogy to a peril of adversity we might face in our day-to-day lives. In fact, much of divine revelation is given in analogy. There are allusions to Spiritual Quicksand in the Bible (i.e. miry pit of clay), such as the Psalms of David. Admittedly, there are times in the believer's life where they may encounter Spiritual Quicksand. That quicksand might represent unaddressed sin in our life or some grave adversity, hardship, temptation, or calamity.

The irony about Real Quicksand is that those trapped in it, often do exactly what they should not do... rather than attempt to float, they might resist, and clamor about vigorously, and their resistance only pulls them deeper into the mire. Similarly, when we are faced with Spiritual Quicksand, which may represent sin, or some trial or grave adversity, and we fail to respond accordingly, we may bring greater calamity upon ourselves. Perhaps some of my readers can relate as I expound further.

Related Articles:
Answers.com - Quicksand
How Stuff Works - Quicksand

The Real-Life Phenomenon of Spiritual Quicksand!
Sometimes, the Spiritual Quicksand might be some mild challenge, and our problem is that we respond and make something trivial into an awful calamity by our misguided response. Many of us run into a mire or pit in our personal lives, and dig ourselves deeper because we fail to respond in an appropriate manner, or walk in faith. We might become resentful at the circumstances, and fight vigorously, and lash out, only to dig ourselves deeper into the calamity. Such perilous circumstances often overwhelms our resources quickly.

Sometimes, a person may be wronged or hurt by another, and when wronged they might fail to respond in a manner according to God's Word. Romans 12:14 tells us, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse." Rather than walk in faith, however, the person trapped in the mire may turn bitter, spiteful, ambivalent, and develop a bad attitude which only deepens their afflictions and delays their escape from the peril.

Whether we get ourselves into a spiritual mess of our own making, or perhaps in a mess because we were wronged and did not respond as a Christian ought to respond is secondary. Irrespective of what brought upon the calamity of Spiritual Quicksand, those times in the mire can be debilitating, spiritually demoralizing and emotionally painful. To overcome the despair and hopelessness as we wallow in the mire, we have to come back to the Cross and the Gospel. We must set our sights on God's promises, and plea for His intercession. We may even experience a sense of frailty, hopelessness, abandon, spitefulness, susceptibility to sin, and an all-around bad attitude as our flesh wars with our spirit along the way. All the more, the pains of our affliction reminds us of our need for God's grace, and our unequivocal dependence upon Him. This is precisely why we have to fight the good fight of faith, and fight to recover the joy of our salvation.

What the Bible tells us about adversity.
Have you fell into some hardship, or are you treading around the dangerous wilderness in the vicinity of spiritual quicksand? Maybe you've taken the deluge into the miry pit. I've been there. As a believer, we have an advocate in Jesus Christ, and we only have to reach out to him.

I am reminded of the example of Joseph whose brothers sold him into slavery. Nonetheless, what man had intended for evil, God intended for good. Joseph may have been something of a spoiled brat, the favored son, but God had a plan and purpose for his life, and raised him up to be a great leader. As Jerry Bridges notes,

Joseph's brothers thought they were getting rid of their brother of whom they were exceedingly envious. But God planned all along to use their scheme to send Joseph ahead of them to be their provider during the seven years of famine. They their actions for evil but God intended them for good. —Bridges, Jerry. Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1988. p. 130)

Joseph underwent a series of grave adversities in his youth, and his character was most assuredly forged in that adversity. First, he was sold into slavery by his brothers, and it was through Reuben's intercession that he was given away, that he was not murdered outright. In turn, these slavers soon sold Joseph as a slave to Potiphar, "one of Pharaoh's officials, and the captain of the guard" (Genesis 37:36). The Lord blessed Potiphar's house for Joseph's sake, and realizing the source of his success, Potiphar eventually made Joseph overseer over his house (Genesis 39:2-6). Though, Joseph's short-lived gain soon fell apart, as Potiphar's wife tempted him with sexual advances and then falsely accused him of adultery thereafter. Joseph was subsequently thrown in prison, but later called upon by Pharaoh to interpret his dream. After success with that, he become a trusted confidant and advisor and was freed, and literally rose to become his chief-of-staff or prime minister. But what man intended for evil, God intended for good in preparedness for Joseph's character and appointed mission. Joseph foresaw a great famine, and made preparations by saving surplus food in the state granaries during the good seasons (Genesis 39-42).


Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dream

Likewise, David comes to mind, as he was pursued by Saul and a conspiracy was arrayed against him to destroy him. Yet David was called "a man after God's own heart" (1 Sam. 13:14), and nonetheless we see in his life that he stumbled and fell egregiously on several occasions. Yet he called out to God in his adversity, and looked to the One and Only source of strength we have when we are in the mire.

1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.
2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth—
Praise to our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the LORD. (Psalm 40)

Even when we're in the miry clay—when all seems lost and hopeless—we can turn to God. Always remember that. Sometimes, the prodigal Christian will make things worse on himself, and fall into a spirit of rebellion, bitterness, and riotous living. We might become amoral in our speech, open to temptation, or simply spite others who have wronged us or even worse spite those who have not wronged us at all. Such a perilous state of being is not for the believer, for we are commanded to bless our enemies as surely as we are commanded to bless our neighbors.

At other times, our Spiritual Quicksand could be barely attributable to our own sinful actions, but the sinful actions of others.

All of these contributing factors to Spiritual Quicksand are ultimately inconsequential, and the key point is that we have an advocate in Christ Jesus when all seems lost. When we are up to our heads in the mire, we can most assuredly turn to God in prayer, place our trust in Him, reach out for his rescuing hand. We can literally pray the psalmist's prayers and plead for God to rescue us from our calamity and pull us from our miry pit of clay. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31)

Building trust, means setting our sights on the promises of God as believers. Psalm 103:12 tells us, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." And as God sets our feet on solid ground, we can come out stronger having endured our adversity, by setting our trust in the sovereign Lord. A familiar verse, Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." We must recognize that our Lord Jesus Christ cares for us, and our eternal destiny is set if we are truly of faith. If we are weak in faith, we should turn to God, and ask him to sustain and strengthen our faith.

"He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings."
—Psalm 40:2

In his acclaimed book What Jesus Demands of the World, pastor John Piper writes:

The focus of the “second” commandment—“You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39)—is not on whether the receiver of love is an enemy or a friend, but on whether the one who loves desires the neighbor’s good as he desires his own. Its importance is seen by the two stupendous things that lie on either side of it. On one side is the greatest commandment in the Word of God—“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” On the other side is the assertion that everything written in the Law and the Prophets hangs on these two commandments. We are in the company of incomparable superlatives—the two greatest commandments in the entire Word of God, and all of that Word hanging on them. We should take off our shoes in reverence here. There are few texts of Scripture greater than this.

An Overwhelming and Staggering Command
The second commandment seems to me to be an overwhelming commandment. It seems to demand that I tear the skin off my body and wrap it around another person so that I feel that I am that other person; and all the longings that I have for my own safety and health and success and happiness I now feel for that other person as though he were me. It is an absolutely staggering commandment. If this is what it means, then something unbelievably powerful and earthshaking and reconstructing and overturning and upending will have to happen in our souls. Something supernatural. Something well beyond what self-preserving, self-enhancing, self-exalting, self-esteeming, self-advancing, fallen human beings like me can do on their own.

On These Two Commandments Hang the Whole Law and the Prophets
What does this mean? Answering this question opens a window into heaven. We will see this if we start by contrasting what Jesus says here in Matthew 22:40 with what he says in Matthew 7:12. This verse is better known as the Golden Rule. One way to see it is as a good commentary on “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” In that context, Jesus has just said that God will give us good things if we ask and seek and knock, because he is a loving Father. Then in Matthew 7:12 he says, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

Piper, John, When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight For Joy, (Wheaton, IL: Good News / Crossway, 2004.)

Do not rejoice over me, my enemy;
When I fall, I will arise;
When I sit in darkness,
The LORD will be a light to me.
I will bear the indignation of the LORD,
Because I have sinned against Him,
Until He pleads my case
And executes justice for me.
He will bring me forth to the light;
I will see His righteousness.
—Micah 7:8-9

I referenced one of my devotionals: Micah chapter seven, particularly Micah 7:8-9. I have looked at John Piper's exegesis of this passage in a book, and he calls it gutsy guilt which I found interesting. It points us back to the doctrine of justification by faith alone, which is our consolation as believers. Christ paid the price! And we lay hold of his righteousness not our own. Isaiah 64:6 says our best works are like filthy rags in his eyes, which is why lay hold of Christ's imputed righteousness, not our own. What of the irony of bearing God's indignation, and then the plea that God would execute justice for me? It says something about the duality of man. Though, we are yet sinners, if we are of faith, we are partakers of Heavenly inheritance. It's a perennial affirmation of Christian teaching that though we may be chastened of God, He loves His flock unconditionally, and He ultimately chastens us because He loves us (Hebrews 12:8).

But I said that this text describes gutsy guilt. Astonishingly, in all his contrition and gloom under God´s anger, Micah gets in the face of his enemy and says, "Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise." The enemy is rubbing it in. The enemy is saying that the sin of Micah cuts him off from his God. The enemy is lying and trying to make Micah hopeless. This is a major battle against Micah´s joy in God. And Micah fights well he preaches the gospel of justification by faith. He gives us an example of how to fight for joy with the weapon of the gospel.

He says, "When I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me." Remember, this darkness is the Lord's discipline. God's indignation burns. And in the midst of the darkness imposed by God, Micah says, "God will be my light." He counts on God's light in the darkness that God himself has sent. That is gutsy. That is what we must learn to do in our darkness even the darkness we have brought on ourselves because of our sin. Yes, I am under the gloom of failure. Yes, God has put me here in his displeasure. But no, I am not abandoned, and God is not against me. He is for me. Even in the darkness that he imposes, he will sustain me. He will not let me go. Though he slay me, he will save me. We must learn to preach to ourselves like this in our fight for joy.

Then, even more astonishingly, Micah says, "I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me." In the midst of his guilt, and in the gloom of its consequences, he knows that a limit has been set to the darkness. God will come. "And when he comes, he will come pleading my cause." He will be my advocate, not the prosecuting attorney. The one who has thrown him in the jail of darkness will pay his bail and plead his case in court and make sure that he goes free to live in joy again.

He goes even further and says that when God comes to him in the darkness, he will execute judgment for him. Micah's enemies are saying that he has fallen and that this means God is against him. Isn't it clear, Micah? You yourself admit that you sinned. You yourself say that God is angry. You yourself say that the darkness and gloom are from the Lord. There is only one reasonable explanation: God is executing judgment against you. You may have once called him Father, but no longer. Now he is Judge. You are guilty, and the judgment is falling against you. That's what the enemy says.

Against all this reasonable accusation (from self, Satan, or others) Micah preaches the doctrine of justification by faith. If he had lived on this side of the cross of Christ, he would be making the ground of God´s mercy explicit, namely, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He says, "Watch out all you who speak thus. My God—my covenant God who declares me righteous by faith and not by works is about to execute judgment for me. That means you, my enemies, will be the ones judged. Take heed, and learn from my rising hope and gutsy guilt the doctrine of justification by faith alone." If you do not learn this, your joys in this life will all be based on an illusion that your ship is unsinkable.
—Piper, John. When I Don't Desire God. (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2004), pp. 88-90.

Image Courtesy of Aspiring Girl

Piper, John, When the Darkness Will Not Lift: Doing What We Can While We Wait for God—and Joy, (Wheaton, IL: Good News / Crossway, 2006.)

When the Darkness Will Not Lift: Doing What We Can While We Wait for God—and Joy is insightful work by Baptist pastor John Piper. Piper examines the phenomenon of depression or melancholy from a Biblical perspective. This succinct book began as an epilogue to an earlier book When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight For Joy. Herein, Piper seeks to offer guidance and encouragement for those for whom joy seems to stay out of reach. As the book capsule summary notes, "Even the most faithful, focused Christian can encounter periods of depression and spiritual darkness when joy seems to stay just out of reach. It can happen because of sin, satanic assault, distressing circumstances, or hereditary and other physical causes." And despite its brevity, this potent little book brings consolation for the downhearted believers in Christ.

One of the best known hymns is William Cowper's "God Moves In A Mysterious Way, His Wonders to Perform." Cowper was subject to melancholy and knew more about the dark side of Christian walk than its joy. It was out of experience that Cowper conjured these words: "Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face."

Packed with practical advice for overcoming melancholy in God's strength, Piper rises up to the challenge of helping readers face depression. He does so, by perceptively affirming the truth of Scripture. Piper offers a broadside against the bad theology of prosperity theologians that misrepresents the Christian walk as one of happiness or an experience of ecstatic joy. Genuine believers in Christ gripped by despair find little consolation in shallow pseudo-Christian well-wishing clothed in spiritual garb that is aloof from their bleak reality. In truth, the Scriptures make it resoundingly clear that life in this fallen world is very much subject to pitfalls—including a life of adversity, hardship and toil. It's not surprising that the Apostle Paul admonished young Timothy, "You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (2 Timothy 2:3). The challenge for the Christian—whether in the grip of a dark depression or simply faced with adverse challenges—is to fight for joy and savor the consolation of the Gospel promises. John Piper notes in his introduction:

"Richard Baxter... wrote with astonishing relevance about the complexities of dealing with Christians who seem unable to enjoy God. "Delighting in God, and in his word and ways," he said, "is the flower and life of true religion. But these that I speak of can delight in nothing--neither God, nor in his word, nor any duty." (pp. 12-13) As Puritan Richard Baxter would write in The Cure of Melancholy, "I have known grievous, despairing melancholy cured and turned into a life of godly cheerfulness, principally by setting upon constancy and diligence in the business of families and callings." Rising up to the challenges of adversity in the face of melancholy is the task of every Christian in their fight for joy. George McDonald, who