I didn’t read as much this year as last, but when I look down the list, I’m surprised I read as much as I did. If this is what a slacker can do, imagine what could be done with a little ambition!

Completed in 2010:
1. Greg Gilbert, What Is the Gospel— This is a great little book, accurately and concisely answering our most fundamental question. 121 pages.
2. Iain Murray, Evangelicalism Divided— A sad book. While I am very glad to have read it, and hope you will too, I can’t say I enjoyed it. Read it if you value truth above your heroes. If you hold certain men to be untouchable, it will only make you mad. 342 pages.
3. Iain Murray, Wesley and Men Who Followed— This is the second Iain Murray book I read last year. Murray is among my favorite authors, certainly my favorite historical author, but I didn’t enjoy this one, either. It seemed he was laboring to write a charitable biography of a man with too many flaws to defend. 270 pages.
4. J. Stephen Yuille, Ed., Trading and Thriving in Godliness: The Piety of George Swinnock— 235 pages. This and the two that follow are volumes in the Profiles in Reformed Spirituality series from Reformation Heritage Books. These little books provide excellent devotional reading, as well as windows into the lives and characters of their subjects. Each is prefaced with a brief biography of.
5. Michael A. G. Haykin, Ed., A Sweet Flame: Piety in the Letters of Jonathan Edwards— 169 pages.
6. Thabiti Anyabwile, Ed., May We Meet in the Heavenly World: The Piety of Lemuel Haynes— 128 pages.
7. John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress— This was a new edition from Crossway with updated language and filled with nice illustrations. I enjoyed it myself, and recommend reading this to young children. Still, I prefer an original version for adult and mature teen reading. 240 pages.
8. John Piper, Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ: The Cost of Bringing the Gospel to the Nations in the Lives of William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton— The fifth of Piper’s The Swans Are Not Silent biographical/theological series. Highly recommended. 128 pages.
9. Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day— I didn’t finish this book. I enjoyed it quite a lot as far as I went, which was right up to the point at which I realized that I despised Stevens. He is a very entertaining character until one notices that he has no character. 245 pages.
10. Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom— Obama violates every principle in this book. I love it (the book, that is, not Obama’s policies). 230 pages.
11. Robert Bork, Coercing virtue: The Worldwide Rule of Judges— Short and easy reading (especially for Bork!). An important book; the title says it all. 192 pages.
12. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet/The Hound of the Baskervilles— Hey, we all need a little entertainment now and then. I had read The Hound as a young lad. Study in Scarlett was a first. Great story! This 1933 film (watch it on Hulu if you must) is so far off the original as to be unrecognizable. Read the book. 301 pages.
13. Sir Martin Gilbert, The First World War— Martin Gilbert, Churchill’s official biographer, is becoming one of my favorite historians. Like his Second World War, this is probably as thorough an account as can — or, at least, should — be squeezed into one volume. 615 pages.
14. Together for the Gospel, Preaching the Cross— These are the lectures from the first (2006) Together for the Gospel conference. The mp3s are all available online, but there is something about having the words in front of you that can’t be gotten from an audio file. The reverse is also true. With these, you can do both. I recommend it. 176 pages.
15. William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich— You might recognize this from last year’s list. Well, give me a break! It’s 1245 pages of small print, and it was my going to bed reading. As I commented last year, If you want to understand the why of WWII, you really need to read this book.

Begun, not completed:
16. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin— I read this one as a kid, after having read the excellent Classics Illustrated version (I miss those!). I liked it then, but it means more to me now. 536 pages.
17. J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)] Volume Four— Should wind up John’s Gospel this year. I can’t recommend this highly enough.
18. John Calvin, Commentary on The Gospel According to John
19. John Piper, What Jesus Demands from the World— You’ve seen a few excerpts on this site. More to come, but you’ll have to buy it to get the whole, rich load. 400 pages.
20. Kevin Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God's Love: Reintroducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline— I’m barely into this one; it’s serious stuff! It’s incredibly challenging and, I think, just what the church needs right now. 384 pages.
21. William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour— Reading this book has become my life’s work. I’m not sure why it’s taking me so long (besides the 1244 pages of small print). It’s not overly difficult, and it’s thoroughly enjoyable, yet I read it in spurts. I will finish it one day, and I suspect that, when I do, I’ll start all over again.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

“Then Whose Shall Those Things Be?”
Christina Rossetti (1830–1894)

Oh what is earth, that we should build
Our houses here, and seek concealed
Poor treasure, and add to the field,
And heap to heap, and store to store,
Still grasping more and seeking more,
While step by step Death nears the door?

—Christina Rossetti, Poems (Alfred A. Knopf, 1993).

John 16:25–33

These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. 28 I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”
   29 His disciples said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. 30 Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.” 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. 33 These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

   The passage we have now read is a very remarkable portion of Scripture, for two reasons. On the one hand, it forms a suitable conclusion to our Lord’s long parting address to His disciples. It was meet and right that such a solemn sermon should have a solemn ending. On the other hand it contains the most general and unanimous profession of belief that we ever find the Apostles making:—“Now are we sure that Thou knowest all things: . . . by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.”
   That there are things hard to be understood in the passage it would be useless to deny. But there lie on its surface three plain and profitable lessons, to which we may usefully confine our attention.
   We learn, for one thing, that clear knowledge of God the Father is one of the foundations of the Christian religion. Our Lord says to His disciples, “The time cometh when I shall show you plainly of the Father.” He does not say, we should mark, “I will show you plainly about myself.” It is the Father whom He promises to show.
   The wisdom of this remarkable saying is very deep. There are few subjects of which men know so little in reality as the character and attributes of God the Father. It is not for nothing that it is written, “No man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son shall reveal Him.” (Matt. xi. 27.) “The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” (John i. 18.) Thousands fancy they know the Father because they think of Him as great, and almighty, and all-hearing, and wise, and eternal, but they think no further. To think of Him as just and yet the justifier of the sinner who believes in Jesus,—as the God who sent His Son to suffer and die,—as God in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself,—as God specially well-pleased with the atoning sacrifice of His Son, whereby His law is honored; to think of God the Father in this way is not given to most men. No wonder that our Master says, “I will show you plainly of the Father.”
   Let it be part of our daily prayers, that we may know more of “the only true God,” as well as of Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Let us beware alike of the mistakes which some make, who speak of God as if there was no Christ; and of the mistakes which others make, who speak of Christ as if there was no God. Let us seek to know all three Persons in the blessed Trinity, and give to each One the honor due to him. Let us lay hold firmly of the great truth, that the Gospel of our salvation is the result of the eternal counsels of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and that we are as thoroughly debtors to the love of the Father, as to the love of the Spirit, or the love of the Son. No one has learned of Christ so deeply as the man who is ever drawing nearer to the Father through the Son,—ever feeling more childlike confidence in Him,—and ever understanding more thoroughly that in Christ, God is not an angry judge, but a loving Father and Friend.
   We learn, for another thing, in this passage, that our Lord Jesus Christ makes much of a little grace, and speaks kindly of those who have it. We see Him saying to the disciples: “The Father Himself loveth you, because ye hath loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God.”
   How weak was the faith and love of the Apostles! How soon, in a very few hours, they were buried under a cloud of unbelief and cowardice! These very men whom Jesus commends for loving and believing, before the morning sun arose, forsook Him and fled. Yet, weak as their graces were, they were real and true and genuine. They were graces which hundreds of learned priests and scribes and Pharisees never attained, and, not attaining, died miserably in their sins.
   Let us take great comfort in this blessed truth. The Saviour of sinners will not cast off those who believe in Him, because they are babes in faith and knowledge. He will not break the bruised reed or quench the smoking flax. He can see reality under much infirmity, and where He sees it, He is graciously pleased. The followers of such a Saviour may well be bold and confident. They have a Friend who despises not the least member of His flock, and casts out none who come to Him, however weak and feeble, if they are only true.
   We learn, for another thing, in this passage, that the best Christians know but little of their own hearts. We see the disciples professing loudly, “Now Thou speakest plainly,—now we are sure,—now we believe.” Brave words these! And yet the very men that spoke them, in a very short time were scattered like timid sheep, and left their Master alone.
   We need not doubt that the profession of the eleven was real and sincere. They honestly meant what they said. But they did not know themselves. They did not know what they were capable of doing under the pressure of the fear of men and of strong temptation. They had not rightly estimated the weakness of the flesh, the power of the devil, the feebleness of their own resolutions, the shallowness of their own faith. All this they had yet to learn by painful experience. Like young recruits, they had yet to learn that it is one thing to know the soldier’s drill and wear the uniform, and quite another thing to be steadfast in the day of battle.
   Let us mark these things, and learn wisdom. The true secret of spiritual strength is self-distrust and deep humility. “When I am weak,” said a great Christian, “then am I strong.” (2 Cor. xii. 10.) None of us, perhaps, have the least idea how much we might fall if placed suddenly under the influence of strong temptation. Happy is he who never forgets the words, “Let him that thinkth he standeth take heed lest he fall;” and, remembering our Lord’s disciples, prays daily: “Hold Thou me up and then I shall be safe.”
   We learn, lastly, from this passage, that Christ is the true source of peace. We read that our Lord winds up all His discourse with these soothing words: “These things have I spoken unto you, that ye might have peace.” The end and scope of His parting address, He would have us know, is to draw us nearer to Himself as the only fountain of comfort. He does not tell us that we shall have no trouble in the world. He holds out no promise of freedom from tribulation, while we are in the body. But He bids us rest in the thought that He has fought our battle and won a victory for us. Though tried, and troubled, and vexed with things here below, we shall not be destroyed. “Be of good cheer,” is His parting charge: “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
   Let us lean back our souls on these comfortable words, and take courage. The storms of trial and persecution may sometimes beat heavily on us; but let them only drive us closer to Christ. The sorrows, and losses, and crosses, and disappointments of our life may often make us feel sorely cast down; but let them only make us tighten our hold on Christ. Armed with this very promise let us, under every cross, come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Let us often say to our souls, “Why art thou cast down, and why art thou disquieted?” And let us often say to our gracious Master,—“Lord, didst not Thou say, Be of good cheer? Lord, do as Thou hast said, and cheer us to the end.”

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)].

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I had an epiphany yesterday. It happened like this. We were unable to attend worship, so we watched a video of John MacArthur at Grace to You. The sermon, chosen pretty randomly, was The Atonement: Real or Potential? While I already understood the issue pretty much as MacArthur presented it, he clarified my thinking considerably. In fact, a better defense of the doctrine of Limited Atonement I’ve never heard. (You can read the transcript, access streaming video and audio, or download the mp3 here.)

Unlimited Atonement is an absurd doctrine, which means it fits into Arminianism perfectly. But mixed with Calvinism — as in, “I’m a 4-point Calvinist” — it is doubly absurd. 4-point Calvinists are really Arminians, or at least they might as well be, because Unlimited Atonement kills grace just as surely as decisional regeneration does. And that is my point today.

The absurdity of Unlimited Atonement is this: Christ did not actually purchase for God with his blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God who will reign upon the earth (Revelation 5:9–10). He only made the purchase possible — made the down-payment, if you like. Then, he defaulted on most of those purchases and let them go to hell. The sins of everyone, including those in hell, have been fully propitiated. The wrath of God against them has been satisfied. Yet they are in hell, being punished with eternal torment for their sins.

If you affirm an Unlimited Atonement, ask yourself this question: what is the difference between those for whom Christ died, whose sins have been fully propitiated, and are therefore justified before God, and are in heaven, and those for whom Christ died, whose sins have been fully propitiated, and are therefore justified before God, who are in hell? The question is, of course, absurd, but it’s one all 4-pointers must answer. The answer must be in something they did; salvation is dependent upon the sinner’s response to Christ rather than Christ’s sacrifice on the sinner’s behalf — as MacArthur says, “they just weren’t clever enough, wise enough, emotionally moved enough, psychologically stimulated enough, to actualize that atonement.”

Which brings me to my epiphany: If you deny Limited Atonement, you haven’t simply made a silly theological blunder; you’ve interjected some act, some decision of man, into the act of saving. You’ve denied grace alone and Christ alone.

Here is another article (one of several I’ve read lately) warning of the trend away from the real reading of real books. In response, I’m going to offer you nothing here today but an encouragement to take whatever time you would normally give to consuming electronic media and use it to read an actual book. It would please me very much if that book was Smyth sewn into leather (or at least cloth) covers, but I suppose a perfect-bound hardcover or even a trade paperback will do.

Earn extra points if you’re already reading a book instead of this blog.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Heart Corruptions

O God,

May thy Spirit speak in me that I may
speak to thee.
I have no merit, let the merit of Jesus stand for me.
I am undeserving, but I look to thy tender mercy.
I am full of infirmities, wants, sin;
   thou art full of grace.
I confess my sin, my frequent sin, my wilful sin;
All my powers of body and soul are defiled;
A fountain of pollution is deep within my nature.
There are chambers of foul images within my being;
I have gone from one odious room to another,
   walked in a no-man’s-land of dangerous
      imaginations,
   pried into the secrets of my fallen nature.
I am utterly ashamed that I am what I am in myself;
I have no green shoot in me nor fruit, but thorns
   and thistles;
I am a fading leaf that the wind drives away;
I live bare and barren as a winter tree,
   unprofitable, fit to be hewn down and burnt.
Lord, dost thou have mercy on me?
Thou hast struck a heavy blow at my pride,
   at the false god of self,
   and I lie in pieces before thee.
But thou hast given me another Master and Lord,
      thy Son, Jesus,
   and now my heart is turned towards holiness,
   my life speeds as an arrow from a bow
   towards complete obedience to thee.
Help me in all my doings to put down sin
   and to humble pride.
Save me from the love of the world and the pride
   of life,
   from everything that is natural to fallen man,
   and let Christ's nature be seen in me day by day.
Grant me grace to bear Thy will without repining,
      and delight to be
   not only chiselled, squared, or fashioned,
   but separated from the old rock where I have
      been embedded so long,
   and lifted from the quarry to the upper air,
      where I may be built in Christ for ever.

—The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

The Gospel According to John

17 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 3 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
   6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.

   These verses begin one of the most wonderful chapters in the Bible. It is a chapter in which we see our Lord Jesus Christ addressing a long prayer to God the Father. It is wonderful as a specimen of the communion that was ever kept up between the Father and the Son, during the period of the Son’s ministry on earth.—It is wonderful as a pattern of the intercession which the Son, as an High Priest, is ever carrying on for us in heaven.–Not least it is wonderful as an example of the sort of things that believers should mention in prayer. What Christ asks for His people, His people should ask for themselves. It has been well and truly said by an old divine, that “the best and fullest sermon ever preached was followed by the best of prayers.”
   It is needless to say that the chapter before us contains many deep things. It could hardly be otherwise. He that reads the words spoken by one Person of the blessed Trinity to another Person, by the Son to the Father, must surely be prepared to find much that he cannot fully understand, much that he has no line to fathom. There are sentences, words, and expressions, in the twenty-six verses of this chapter, which no one probably has ever unfolded completely. We have not minds to do it, or to understand the matters it contains, if we could. But there are great truths in the chapter which stand out clearly and plainly on its face, and to these truths we shall do well to direct our best attention.
   We should notice, firstly, in these verses, what a glorious account they contain of our Lord Jesus Christ’s office and dignity. We read that the Father has “given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life.” The keys of heaven are in Christ’s hands. The salvation of every soul of mankind is at His disposal.—We read, furthermore, that “it is life eternal to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.” The mere knowledge of God is not sufficient, and saves none. We must know the Son as well as the Father. God known without Christ, is a Being whom we can only fear, and dare not approach. It is “God in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself,” who alone can give to the soul life and peace.—We read, furthermore, that Christ “has finished the work which the Father gave Him to do.” He has finished the work of redemption, and wrought out a perfect righteousness for His people. Unlike the first Adam, who failed to do God’s will and brought sin into the world, the second Adam has done all, and left nothing undone that He came to do.—Finally, we read that Christ “had glory with the Father before the world was.” Unlike Moses and David, He existed from all eternity, long before He came into the world; and He shared glory with the Father, before He was made flesh and born of the Virgin Mary.
   Each of these marvelous sayings contains matter which our weak minds have not power fully to comprehend. We must be content to admire and reverence what we cannot thoroughly grasp and explain. But one thing is abundantly clear: sayings like these can only be used of one who is very God. To no patriarch, or prophet, or king, or apostle, is any such language ever applied in the Bible. It belongs to none but God.
   Forever let us thank God that the hope of a Christian rests on such a solid foundation as a Divine Saviour. He to whom we are commanded to flee for pardon, and in whom we are bid to rest for peace, is God as well as man. To all who really think about their souls, and are not careless and worldly, the thought is full of comfort. Such people know and feel that great sinners need a great Saviour, and that no mere human redeemer would meet their needs. Then let them rejoice in Christ, and lean back confidently on Him. Christ has all power, and is able to save to the uttermost, because Christ is divine. Office, power, and pre-existence, all combine to prove that He is God.
   We should notice, secondly, in these verses, what a gracious account they contain of our Lord Jesus Christ’s disciples. We find our Lord Himself saying of them, “They have kept Thy Word,—they have known that all things Thou hast given Me are of Thee,—they have received Thy words,—they have known surely that I came out from Thee,—they have believed that Thou didst send Me.”
   These are wonderful words when we consider the character of the eleven men to whom they were applied. How weak was their faith! How slender their knowledge! How shallow their spiritual attainments! How faint their hearts in the hour of danger! Yet a very little time after Jesus spoke these words they all forsook Him and fled, and one of them denied Him three times with an oath. No one, in short, can read the four Gospels with attention, and fail to see that never had a great master such weak servants as Jesus had in the eleven apostles. Yet these very weak servants were the men of whom the gracious Head of the Church speaks here in high and honorable terms.
   The lesson before us is full of comfort and instruction. It is evident that Jesus sees far more in His believing people than they see in themselves, or than others see in them. The least degree of faith is very precious in His sight. Though it be no bigger than a grain of mustard seed, it is a plant of heavenly growth, and makes a boundless difference between the possessor of it and the man of the world. Wherever the gracious Saviour of sinners sees true faith in Himself, however feeble, He looks with compassion on many infirmities, and passes by many defects. It was even so with the eleven apostles. They were weak and unstable as water; but they believed and loved their Master when millions refused to own Him. And the language of Him who declared that a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple should not lose its reward, shows clearly that their loyalty was not forgotten.
   The true servant of God should mark well the feature in Christ’s character which is here brought out, and rest his soul upon it. The best among us must often see in himself a vast amount of defects and infirmities, and must feel ashamed of his poor attainments in religion. But do we simply believe in Jesus? Do we cling to Him, and roll all our burdens on Him? Can we say with sincerity and truth, as Peter said afterwards, “Lord, Thou knowest all things: Thou knowest that I love Thee”? Then let us take comfort in the words of Christ before us, and not give way to despondency. The Lord Jesus did not despise the eleven because of their feebleness, but bore with them and saved them to the end, because they believed. And He never changes. What He did for them, He will do for us.

—J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Baker Books, 2007) [Westminster (PB) | Amazon (HC)].

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I’ve gotten some push-back (thanks to Tim Challies) on yesterday’s posting of John MacArthur’s comments on the charismatic movement. The content of the comments is no surprise, nor is what is conspicuously absent from them. This post is your opportunity to remedy that, and set me straight once and for all.

The cessationist argument — my argument — begins with the fact that, according to Scripture, tongues will cease; that’s not debatable. The question is, when? Assuming (erroneously) that Scripture gives us no clue, how would we know? What if, like Noah, we were told of a coming event, but not told when it would happen, how would we know that it had? Well, it was easy for Noah: the flood came; he knew it had, and consequently, he didn’t lose any sleep about it as a future event thereafter. Cessationists believe the cessation has come, and that it came at or before the end of the apostolic age. We offer as evidence the only evidence there could be, the only evidence that should be necessary:

Tongues are absent from church history.

This post offers you an opportunity to refute that. This is not the place for philosophy or personal anecdotes. Your refutation must come in the form of citations from the Fathers, Reformers, Puritans, or similar sources demonstrating that tongues were an issue among them. I am not asking for their opinions on the subject, or their treatment of any biblical text; I am not asking for your opinions; I am asking for historical evidence that they were actually experiencing these things.

No anecdotes or opinions, only actual documentation from cited sources. Anything less will be deleted.

The last two days have given me charismania on the brain. Sound painful? It is. So painful, in fact, that I’ve taken the day off (mostly) from thinking. I’ve done my best not to have a single thought all day. The few thoughts that have managed to sneak through the thought filter have all been of charismania. I don’t want to think about charismania, and I don’t want to write any more about it (although I am still hoping for more contributions here). So I guess I’m not writing anything today.

Here’s a pretty picture to make this otherwise empty post mildly interesting. It’s of The Challies Effect, or What Happens When Tim Challies Throws Me a Link, as he did on Tuesday.