Judge Not the Lord by Feeble Sense

God Moves in a Mysterious Way

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm. 

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sov’reign will. 

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 flow’r. 

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

William Cowper, 1774

Killing Calvinism - Book Review

I just finished reading Killing Calvinism: How to Destroy a Perfectly Good Theology from the Inside. I found the title of this book to be alluring.  It snatched my attention from the first time that I heard of it.  It was on my watch list for books that I was hoping would go on sale eventually.  Strangely enough, when it did go on sale, it wasn't me that purchased it, but it was my wife who purchased this book. She saw it on the when she was browsing through the Kindle books and decided to pick it up.  I was surprised to see it listed with my books, but quickly started to read it.

Like I said, the title of this book is what drew me in, but what kept me reading was the openness and honesty of the author.  From the subtitle, How to Destroy a Perfectly Good Theology from the Inside, I could tell that this book was going to deal with the reality of people's reaction to, what is popularly called, Calvinism, and the difficulty of relaying that truth to others. There are so many knee-jerk reactions to salvation and the sovereignty of God that it is hard to get past all of that and into the actual teachings of Scripture.  The flip side to that coin is the pride, anger and arrogance that seems to go along with those who hold this view, whether that is a reality or not, many seem to detect a connection here.

Greg Dutcher shares a quote from John Piper regarding the anger:

When a person comes to see the doctrines of grace in the Bible, he is often amazed that he missed it, and he can sometimes become angry.  He can become angry that he grew up in a church or home where they never talked about what is really there in Romans 8, I Corinthians 2, and Ephesians 2.  They never talked about it -- they skipped it -- and he is angry that he was misled for so long.

I understand that sentiment.  There are so many passages of scripture that were never discussed or taught. I have seen this anger in me.  I don't want to do things that might hinder others from seeing and savoring the greatest aspects of God's amazing grace, and I definitely don't want my attitudes to dim their glory.  The author shared another Piper quote that really rang true:

I love the doctrines of grace with all my heart, and I think they are pride-shattering, humbling, and love producing doctrines.  But I think there is an attractiveness about them to some people, in a large matter, because of their intellectual rigor.  They are powerfully coherent doctrines, and certain kinds of minds are drawn to that.  And those kinds of minds tend to be argumentative. 

So the intellectual appeal of the system of Calvinism draws a certain kind of intellectual person, and that type of person doesn't tend to be the most warm, fuzzy, and tender.  Therefore this type of person has a greater danger of being hostile, gruff, abrupt, insensitive, or intellectualistic.

So I don't go into a Piper-quoting frenzy, I will stop there.  I do appreciate how the author, through these quotes and through personal experiences and confessions, displays the typical dangers that seem to cloud the  teachings of these doctrines.  I was stirred, again, by the author's love, not of Calvinism, but of the Lord, to keep in mind God's wonderful grace.

If you are a Calvinist, 5-point or no... I recommend getting this book.  I found it extremely helpful and encouraging.  I will end this book review by sharing another quote in the book, this one by R.C. Sproul.  This quote is on that I found to be extremely interesting and full of eye-opening encouragement.  I concerns Sprouls acceptance of the teachings of Calvinism:

The combination was too much for me.  Gerstner, Edwards, the New Testament professor, and above all the apostle Paul, were too formidable a team for me to withstand.  The ninth chapter of Romans was the clincher. I simply could find no way to avoid the apostle's teaching in that chapter. Reluctantly, I sighed and surrendered, but with my head, not my heart.  "OK, I believe this stuff, but I don't have to like it!" 

I soon discovered that God has created us so that the heart is supposed to follow the head. I could not, with impunity, love something with my head that I hated in my heart.  Once I began to see the cogency of the doctrine and its broader implications, my eyes were opened to the graciousness of grace and the grand comfort of God's sovereignty.  I began to like the doctrine little by little, until it burst upon my soul that the doctrine revealed the depth and the riches of the mercy of God.

If I know you and you are interested in reading this book, and you have a Kindle, I think that I can "loan" this book.  I have never tried this before, but I would be willing to give it a shot.  Let me know.

The Sovereignty of God - Book Review

The Sovereignty of God
by A.W. Pink.

You may have noticed that I have included a few quotes from this book lately.  I've really enjoyed it, but I might be a little biased because of the "fluff" that I've been reading along side this book.  I only have a couple of pages left in this book, so I thought I would go ahead and type out a short book review.  (Reviews of the "fluff" will come later.)

This book is clearly about the sovereignty of God.  From God's sovereignty in creation, administration, and the natural world, to His sovereignty in salvation.  The book seemed to start a little slow, but that was mostly because it was dealing with topics that most people wouldn't question.  When you deal with sovereignty in creation, that's simple.  Sovereignty in administration (the workings of the world), that doesn't press any buttons.  As the book progressed, it picked up steam as it inched closer and closer towards that inevitable conclusion... God is sovereign in salvation.

I picked up this book with many of those understandings and teachings already, but as I progressed through this book it built in me a love for the topic.  Pink discussed the sovereignty of God the way someone might describe a beautiful painting or the way a husband might describe the beauty of his wife.

Whether you are into old theology books or not, I highly recommend this book.

The Kindle Edition is available for only $0.99!  Click through now to get it: The Sovereignty of God  Use these links that I've provided so that I get credit!

sweet force

"Why was I made to hear is voice,
And enter while there's room,
When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?
'Twas the same love that spread the feast,
That sweetly forced us in;
Else we had still refused to taste
And perished in our sin."
~Isaac Watts 


Quoted in The Sovereignty of God by A.W.Pink

the superficial work of many evangelists

I've been reading A.W. Pink's book, The Sovereignty of God during my bus trips to work and back home.  I Read this bit on the bus this morning:

The superficial work of many of the professional evangelists of the last fifty years is largely responsible for the erroneous view now current upon the bondage of the natural man, encouraged by the laziness of those in the pew in their failure to "prove all things" (I Thess. 5:21). The average evangelical pulpit conveys the impression that it lies wholly in the power of the sinner whether or not he shall be saved. It is said that "God has done His part, now man must do his."  Alas, what can a lifeless man do, and man by nature is "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1)!  If the truth were really believed, there would be more dependence upon the Holy Spirit to come in with His miracle-working power, and less confidence in our attempts to "win men for Christ."

As much as I agree with every word that Pink is saying, I still find myself relying on my preaching and my persuasive abilities for people to repent.  I need to repent.  It isn't that I shouldn't seek to be persuasive, it is that I shouldn't rely on that.  Listen to the rest that Pink has to say:

When addressing the unsaved, preachers often draw an analogy between God's sending of the Gospel to the sinner, and a sick man in bed, with healing medicine on a table by his side: all he needs to do is to reach forth his hand and take it. But in order for this illustration to be in any wise true to the picture which Scripture gives us of the fallen and depraved sinner, the sick man in bed must be described as one who is blind (Eph. 4:18) so that he cannot see the medicine, his hand paralyzed (Rom. 5:6) so that he is unable to reach forth for it, and his heart not only devoid of all confidence in the medicine but filled with hatred against the physician himself (John 15:18).  

O what superficial views of man's desperate plight are now entertained! Christ came here not to help those who are willing to help themselves, but to do for His people what they were incapable of doing for themselves: "To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house" (Isa. 42:7).

The Sovereignty of God in Evangelism and Prayer

Just watched this video from a blog called Finger Toe that is absolutely worth 8 minutes of your life.  If you need to, save it for Super Bowl Sunday and watch it instead of the commercials.  (Notice the new "watch later" button at the bottom of the video?)





He mentions a book titled Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer.  I read this little book a couple of years ago (during a summer vacation) and highly recommend it to anyone who has questions regarding God's sovereignty.