Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy (Romans 9:11-16).
Romans 9 is like a tiger going about devouring free-willers like me (John Piper, 1968).
The sermon below, John Piper’s The Freedom and Justice of God in Unconditional Election, is one of my all-time favorite sermons. Between 2004 and 2005, I spent dozens of nights listening to this sermon and weeping my eyes out. The rest of the sermons from Piper’s series on Romans 9 are also some really good resources on unconditional election.
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Some have been surprised by John Piper’s invitation to Doug Wilson to speak at the 2009 Desiring God Conference. Wilson gained infamy in Presbyterian circles for his involvement in the controversial Federal Vision movement within the Presbyterian church, which is loosely tied to the New Perspective on Paul in the broader Protestant church.
In the Q&A of the 2008 Resurgence Conference, Piper (while sitting next to another controversial figure) was asked the question, Does Wilson preach another gospel? The following clip is his response:
Although I’m not in any way disapproving of Piper’s choice to have Wilson speak at the upcoming Desiring God Conference (I love most of what Wilson has done outside of Federal Vision), I am surprised. I hope Piper will explain at some point why he chose Wilson. He knew it would be a controversial choice, and I look forward to seeing how he responds to the critics.
Wilson’s three hour examination by the CREC Presbytery is available at http://www.christkirk.com/DougWilsonCREC.asp. Following the examination, Wilson was unanimously found to be within the bounds of historic Reformed theology by the churches of the CREC at the recommendation of the examination committee.
The following excerpt is taken from On the Passover, a sermon preached by Melito of Sardis in 170 AD. Read the whole sermon here.
This one is the passover of our salvation. This is the one who patiently endured many things in many people: This is the one who was murdered in Abel, and bound as a sacrifice in Isaac, and exiled in Jacob, and sold in Joseph, and exposed in Moses, and sacrificed in the lamb, and hunted down in David, and dishonored in the prophets. . . .
But you were found not really to be Israel, for you did not see God, you did not recognize the Lord, you did not know, O Israel, that this one was the firstborn of God, the one who was begotten before the morning star, the one who caused the light to shine forth, the one who made bright the day, the one who parted the darkness, the one who established the primordial starting point, the one who suspended the earth, the one who quenched the abyss, the one who stretched out the firmament, the one who formed the universe, the one who set in motion the stars of heaven, the one who caused those luminaries to shine, the one who made the angels in heaven, the one who established their thrones in that place, the one who by himself fashioned man upon the earth. This was the one who chose you, the one who guided you from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to Isaac and Jacob and the Twelve Patriarchs.
This was the one who guided you into Egypt, and guarded you, and himself kept you well supplied there. This was the one who lighted your route with a column of fire, and provided shade for you by means of a cloud, the one who divided the Red Sea, and led you across it, and scattered your enemy abroad.
This is the one who provided you with manna from heaven, the one who gave you water to drink from a rock, the one who established your laws in Horeb, the one who gave you an inheritance in the land, the one who sent out his prophets to you, the one who raised up your kings.
This is the one who came to you, the one who healed your suffering ones and who resurrected your dead. This is the one whom you sinned against. This is the one whom you wronged. This is the one whom you killed. This is the one whom you sold for silver, although you asked him for the didrachma. . . .
Who is my opponent? I, he says, am the Christ. I am the one who destroyed death, and triumphed over the enemy, and trampled Hades under foot, and bound the strong one, and carried off man to the heights of heaven, I, he says, am the Christ.
Therefore, come, all families of men, you who have been befouled with sins, and receive forgiveness for your sins. I am your forgiveness, I am the passover of your salvation, I am the lamb which was sacrificed for you, I am your ransom, I am your light, I am your saviour, I am your resurrection, I am your king, I am leading you up to the heights of heaven, I will show you the eternal Father, I will raise you up by my right hand.
This is the one who made the heavens and the earth, and who in the beginning created man, who was proclaimed through the law and prophets, who became human via the virgin, who was hanged upon a tree, who was buried in the earth, who was resurrected from the dead, and who ascended to the heights of heaven, who sits at the right hand of the Father, who has authority to judge and to save everything, through whom the Father created everything from the beginning of the world to the end of the age.
This is the alpha and the omega. This is the beginning and the end–an indescribable beginning and an incomprehensible end. This is the Christ. This is the king. This is Jesus. This is the general. This is the Lord. This is the one who rose up from the dead. This is the one who sits at the right hand of the Father. He bears the Father and is borne by the Father, to whom be the glory and the power forever. Amen.
Mark Driscoll’s Jesus Died in Our Place is one of the most purely gospel oriented sermons I’ve heard in a long time. There are a lot of sermons that focus on certain aspects of the gospel: how great the gospel is, how to believe the gospel, the necessity of the gospel, and on and on. But, sadly, it is a rarity to find a sermon which has one single, great purpose: to present the gospel.
It is ironic that one of the best examples of a gospel sermon would come from Driscoll, the king of fads. You don’t have to know about Driscoll very long before you find out that many otherwise wonderful Christians have a problem with him and his ministry. He’s seen as the great compromiser, the cussing pastor who can’t control his temper, the perverted preacher who talks too much about sex, the guy who flirts with the emergent church. . . . The list of complaints is long and comprehensive.
But I love Mark Driscoll, and this is why: Mark Driscoll loves Jesus. And for anyone who would disagree, I challenge you to find a more gospel-centered hour of preaching than this.
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Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:9-11)
Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21-22).
If God commands us to forgive seventy times seven sins, how much more will he forgive us when we ask him? In fact, in the parable following the above verses, Jesus bases his command on the fact that God does forgive us much more than this!
Tim Keller: Does God forgive sins you continue to repeat?
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Check out more Q&A with Tim Keller at the Redeemer website »
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Jon Bloom writes:
There had been false messiahs. What if Jesus was just another? So far Jesus’ ministry wasn’t exactly what John had always imagined the Messiah’s would look like. Could this imprisonment be God’s judgment? . . .
When Jesus had sent John’s disciples away, he said something stunning about John: no one born of women had ever been greater. This, right after John questioned who Jesus was.
In this age, even the greatest, strongest saints experience deep darkness. None of us are spared sorrow or satanic oppression. Most of us suffer agonizing affliction at some point. Most of us will experience seasons when we feel as if we’ve been abandoned. Most of us will die hard deaths.
The Savior does not break the bruised reed. He hears our pleas for help and is patient with our doubts. He does not condemn us. He has paid completely for any sin that is exposed in our pain.
