What did Jesus preach?  The text tells us broadly “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (24.47).  This was not an isolated proof text here or there but rather a systmatic unpacking of the Bible’s central story-line that culminates in the person and work of Christ.  This seven mile walk must have been sermon after sermon of how the Old Testament Scriptures point to Christ.  O’ how wonderful this walk must have been!

We obviously do not have access to the sermon notes but we do have the text.  And Edmond Clowney aims to help us see how the Old Testament Scriptures point forward and speak loudly as to Christ.  Beginning with Adam and Eve and working throuhout the biblical narrative, Clowney carefully and passionately points us to Christ.

I say that he does so carefully because there is a dangerous tendency to find Jesus in passages where he is not there.  I often times hear preachers run to Christ from a passage and wonder how they got there; I am delighted that they are bragging on Christ but wonder how in the world they made it there.  Clowney does not do such things.  He carefully and faithfully explains the passages within the overall biblical context and shows how Christ is seen in the Scriptures.  From the narratives surrounding Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and Solomon we are given healthy insights into Christ’s prefigurement in the Old Testament.

This book is an easy and fun read.  Clowney was a great writer who had the ability to teach you without feeling like you were working too hard.  You come away from each chapter with your heart burning a bit within you!

This book has made it to my top 10 list and will be reread regularly.  I highly recommend it.

Discounted copies are available at Westminster Books or Amazon.

Ancient Word, Changing Worlds focuses on the contemporary challenges to and defenses of the Bible.  Nichols observes that these challenges have providentially caused a “deeper reflection on and clearer expression of the doctrines of Scripture.” Furthermore the author writes,

These doctrines orbit around three words, words that have received a great deal of attention in the nineteenth, twentieth, and now into the twenty-first centuries.  These three words are inspiration, inerrancy, and interpretation. This book tells the story of these words, and particularly the story of how these words were developed in these last few centuries.  It is the story of how the ancient word of God speaks to and in our changing world.

The format for the book is as simple and informative.  After unpacking each of the three key words listed above in their own chapters the author then compiles a list of writings from folks in the midst of the respective debates over Scripture.  In the midst of these quotations Nichols provides helpful commentary, observation and conclusion.  So for instance, you have quite a bit of quotations from BB Warfield, A.A. Hodge and J. Gresham Machen.  But at the same time we have the other side of the debate from liberals like Harry Emerson Fosdick.  Nichols also takes you back to some of the most important developments of the past couple of hundred years in these battles.  His unpacking of the ‘new evangelicalism’ and the events that surrounding Fuller Seminary’s departure from historic biblical orthodoxy were both riveting and troubling. The reader is reminded afresh of the hot coals that still burn today in this battle and the need to continue to work hard on such important issues.  So in this sense it refreshes you with the doctrines, informs you of the issues, reminds you of the battles, and charges you to be faithful in both understanding and defending inspiration, inerrancy and interpretation.

Overall the book was a very enjoyable read.  It really combined three of Nichols’ strengths as a writer.  He is doctrinally precise, an astute historian, and a terrific writer.  Many people may not get too excited about a book on this subject but Nichols not only makes it informative but quite enjoyable.  In my opinion, at a minimum pastors need to refresh themselves on the doctrine of Scripture at least annually.  Here the author serves you by making it easy.

You can pick it up at Amazon or Westminster Books depending on your preference (both are on sale).

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1Co 2.14)

“Take notice that this is a moral ‘cannot,’ not a physical ‘cannot.’  When Paul says, ‘The natural person…is not able to understand them,’ he means that the heart is so resistant to receiving them that the mind justifies the rebellion of the heart by seeing them as foolish.  This rebellion is so complete that the heart really cannot receive the things of the Spirit.  This is real inability.  But it is not a coerced inability.  The unregenerate person cannot because he will not.  His preferences for sin are so strong that he cannot choose good.  It is a real and terrible bondage.  But it is not an innocent bondage.”  (John Piper, Finally Alive), p. 52

(I am really enjoying reading this new book by Piper.  He is so helpful in his careful, thoughtful, joyful and biblical articulation of the gospel and its implications.  It is thoroughly refreshing.)

I see the deadly pagan inversion of this in my life far too often as I steal glory from Christ and prop myself up as the end for which God created the world.  And so I cry out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

But then I hear the Word of the Lord whisper:  “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7.24-25)

This brings true encouragement, motivation, calibration and joy.  God is so good to speak words of truth and power to his children as he reminds them of his infinitely glorious Son.

…Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, (2Ti 1.10)

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (Isa 53.10)

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Heb 9.14)

Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” (Joh 8.51)

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Heb 2.1)

From the publisher:

Eleven preachers with different gifts, backgrounds, and personal emphases show how they proclaim Christ from all the Scripture in a variety of contexts.

Edmund P. Clowney (1917-2005), the late president and professor of practical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, was a trailblazer of Christ-centered, redemptive-historical preaching. Through his classroom instruction, his publications, and his example as a preacher, he ignited in many seminary students and pastors a passion to preach Christ from all the Scriptures as the fulfillment and climax of God’s plan of redemption.

This collection of sermons is intended to illustrate how various preachers with different gifts, backgrounds, and personal emphases are working out in practice the homiletic principles they learned from Dr. Clowney. The volume, which includes sermons and introductory comments by editor Dennis Johnson, Tim Keller, Joseph “Skip” Ryan, and eight other contributors, enables readers to carry away both models and practical advice for preparing sermons that proclaim Christ across a broad spectrum of congregations and people groups.

And here are some of the endorsements:

“No effort is more dear to my heart than Christ-centered preaching-and no person has been more valiant in the cause than Edmund Clowney. This collection of sermons reflecting his principles includes messages I have my students read, and it will be a sure blessing to many more.” Bryan Chapell, President, Covenant Theological Seminary (PCA)

“Our churches desperately need Christ-centered preaching today. But how do we preach in a way that exalts Christ? How can we preach Christ and still give sermons that speak to the hearts of those who hear us? What a wonderful gift, therefore, to read sermons from gifted and experienced pastors where Christ is proclaimed. Often we learn most effectively by watching experts at work. The passion of Edmund P. Clowney lives on in the sermons of his students, and what a joy it would bring him to see Christ glorified by a new generation of preachers.” Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“Edmund Clowney was one of my most valued friends and mentors and perhaps my very favorite preacher. Ed advocated and exemplified what is called the redemptive-historical approach to preaching. Although I have had some reservations about the theory of redemptive-historical preaching, Ed’s sermons moved my heart more than most any others. For his preaching was not just the application of a theory; it was born out of his love for Christ and his passion to bring Christ to people and they to him. Others have advocated the same theory, but only a few have captured Ed’s passion, his heart and soul. And only a few have shared Ed’s great gifts of knowledge, clarity, persuasiveness, and understanding of human nature. Many of those are here, in this volume. May God use this book to raise up a new generation of preachers filled with his Spirit, to honor his Son, and may he use it to raise up Christians who passionately embrace God’s grace and share it with others.” John Frame, Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy, Reformed Theological Seminary

There is an exciting connection that is established right away in the first few verses of Psalm 119 between joy and obedience. In v.1 the saints are “blessed whose way is blameless who walk in the law of the LORD” this same theme continues in v.2. There is great joy in faithful obedience to the divine agenda. And conversely there is great sorrow in the rejection of and rebellion from God’s will. So many people are searching for the secret of abiding joy and happiness, the answer is quite simple, it is to know God and to obey him, for in this there is joy that endures.

Why is there such joy in genuine obedience to God? I think there are several facets to the answer, however, one real basic understanding fuels everything else. Believers have abiding joy because the source of the joy is not in themselves but rather in the infinitely glorious and joyous God. The joy is rooted in the eternal character of God. We as his followers are privileged then to sit at the great buffet of God as prepared through his word and enjoy the delicious feast of divine revelation as it explains with unparrelled precision the glory and beauty of God.

There is an interesting dynamic that the Psalmist hits on right out of the box here for us concerning the role of the word in our obedience and joy. There are several words used in verses 1-8 to denote our actions:

• v.1: walk in the law
• v.2: observe his testimonies
• v.2: seek him
• v.3: do no unrighteousness
• v.3: walk in his ways
• v.4: keep them (precepts) diligently
• v.5: keep your statutes
• v.7: give thanks
• v.8: keep your statutes

As the Psalmist grows in his knowledge and understanding of God he grows in his love for God, the Scriptures, and obedience! It becomes a wonderfully designed conduit of praise. Think about it: God reveals himself in the Scriptures, which are then read by us his creation, he then causes there hearts to respond to this truth, even converting them and then he gives them food daily that nourishes and inflames appetites for divine glory….and the more you eat the more you want!! The more you stoop and taste at the fountain of God’s delights the more you realize that the taste is unparalleled and the well is inexhaustible (Jn. 4). Therefore, we as believers are to linger long at the spring of God and enjoy fresh water from his word as often as possible, knowing that it nourishes, satisfies, and is inexhaustible.

What a privilege it truly is to have God reveal himself in the Scriptures. We may know him and his tender lovingkindness, his wisdom, and his holiness. We may tremble at this sovereignty and inflexible justice, but take great comfort in his goodness.

While we endeavor to keep the statutes diligently (v.4) we remember the Lord Jesus who, in the place of sinners, kept the commandments of God perfectly and gloriously! As we long to obey and enjoy God through his word we remember that it is earned by one who was quite like us but quite unlike us also. Our Lord Jesus, the God-man, who has purchased salvation for his people; there is great joy in the Christian because there is great joy in Christ.