He reveals His sovereign power as the omnipotent Creator (John 1:3, 10) when He calls Lazarus to come forth and He rises; even death is subservient to the Sovereignty of God! (John 11:40-44).
All posts by Bruce Henry
Every human being must live for something
“Paul summarized the history of the human race in one sentence: “They worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25). Every human being must live for something. Something must capture our imaginations, our heart’s most fundamental allegiance and hope. But, the Bible tells us, without the intervention of the Holy Spirit, that object will never be God himself.” Counterfeit God’s by Tim Keller (location 232, Kindle edition)
No One is Able to Snatch Them Out of the Father’s Hand
Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me,is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”” (John 10:25–33 ESV)
Jesus is in a heated discussion with the self righteous, religious elite in John 10. In verse 24, they ask “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are ithe Christ, tell us plainly,” to which Jesus answered that He had told them, but they did not believe. Why didn’t they believe since they were very religious men? They did not believe because they were not sheep. Don’t read past that. Jesus said that His sheep, that God gave to Him, hear His voice and follow Him; furthermore, He knows His sheep and gives them eternal life. There is not much mention of their choice; God had chosen them and given them to Jesus. Jesus then goes on and provides GREAT comfort to the Christian when He says, “no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” This paints a portrait of God’s activity in the hearts of men, He is not distant or disconnected. The religious elite’s response was to stone Him, not because of His good works, but because they knew what He was claiming. He was claiming to be God, He was claiming that He was the messiah.
This section provides us with much encouragement to share our faith because sheep will hear the beautiful message of the Gospel and respond in God’s timing. It does not depend upon our ability to articulate everything correctly, it depends upon God’s effectual call in the life of His sheep. This is freeing and liberating! Sheep hear His voice and follow Him and He knows them and gives them eternal life and “no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand!” That is good news!
11 Ways God Works for Us
11 Ways God Works for Us by John Piper
Sacrifice, in and of itself, is not the gospel
Sacrifice, in and of itself, is not the gospel
What is Gospel-Centeredness? That’s the Question
What is Gospel-Centeredness? That’s the Question blog post on Together for Adoption
Only Grace Redeems and Restores
“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:1–3:3 ESV)
Paul views his life as Christ’s and lives on mission to accomplish his calling by reminding himself that Christ lives in him and loved him and died for him. Gospel logic drives Paul. He ferociously reminds himself of Christ’s sacrifice to empty himself so he can be filled with the Holy Spirit. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” Galatians 2:20-3:3. Paul then presses in to the Galatians this same thought process. The Galatian Christians had left the Gospel of Grace and gravitated to a works centered sanctification, which is our natural proclivity because we always like to add something of our own. They implemented rules and regulations (laws) to change – Paul asks them, “who has bewitched you,” and prompts them to continue in the Spirit of Grace. You started by the Spirit of Grace and are sanctified by that Spirit. Gospel threads are in focus here. The One who began the good work in them was the One that would be faithful to complete it (Philippians 1:6).
The law (our moral obedience to God) reveals sin (Romans 3:20-26) and functions to restrain it’s effects, but it is powerless to redeem and restore the soul – only Grace redeems and restores. Our white knuckled obedience to God is powerless to produce love and affection. You can obey God’s laws and commandments without trusting him, but you can’t trust God without obeying Him. One involves a contrite heart, and one involves a self righteous heart. Which one is yours?
“What does this mean? It means that we not only want our school to be a place of learning, but a culture of grace as well. Rules and regulations are necessary because they work to reveal and restrain sin, but they cannot rescue us from it. It is only God’s grace that has the power to change a person’s heart. So we must always make sure, that in the classrooms and hallways of our schools, that we are not asking the law to do what only grace can accomplish.” http://www.paultrippministries.org/yourchristianschoolacultureofgrace
The Disciplines are Powerless to Irrigate Our Dry Souls
Undoubtedly if you have been in the faith very long you have have experienced dry periods in your walk with God. But, if your walk with God has become characterized by drought then something is wrong. If you have little affection for Jesus then something is not right. The common answer is that we should join a Bible Study, pray more, serve more, get in a small group, and the list goes on. But we know that the disciplines, on their own, are powerless to irrigate our dry souls, we need something much more to satiate our longings. We need to be captivated; we need to move from a marginalized faith to one that is impacting and fully engaged – and because we want to, not because we have to. CS Lewis’ quote from the Weight of Glory puts it this way: “Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” Affection or desire is a crucial component to our faith; John Piper puts it this way: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” If you want to be truly filled and satisfied, then your life must be reflecting the glory of God – that is God’s created purpose and the way the universe works. There is no system or formula to produce affection or desire, it is by constantly reminding ourselves of God’s great love and mercy for us that our affections are stirred. The more we understand the gap between our holy sovereign Creator and us and that He was willing to bridge that gap, the more our worship and appreciation increases. This grace is the fuel for Christian growth.
Never Shift From the Hope of the Gospel that You Heard
“And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.” (Colossians 1:21–23 ESV)
We were all alienated from God, dead, helpless, hopeless. Dead men can’t reach out, but because of His great love, He reached down. He has reconciled us (notice that we are passive) in order to present us as holy, blameless and above reproach before Him. This is possible because He did it, not because we contribute anything. It is imperative that we not shift our hope from the Gospel as we begin our sanctification process. Meditating upon these truths presses the Gospel deeper in to our souls and provides the fuel for sanctification because we become confident of this, “that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6 ESV).
Paul reminds them of who they were and what God did for them in Jesus. These are Christians that he is talking to. Remembering what God has done and continues to do has a way of redeeming our rejoicing. The Gospel does that, it reminds us of our complete inability and His complete ability. It reminds us of the great exchange, His righteousness for our unrighteousness. We brought nothing to the table, being spiritually bankrupt and we continue our relationship the same way – in utter dependance.
The Gospel Centered Life 