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| Enraging HypocritesFrom a post on the 9Marks blog:
In 1739, George Whitfield began to travel through America, and he had opportunity to hear a faithful evangelical preacher named Gilbert Tennent in New York. Upon hearing Rev. Tennent preach, Whitfield wrote:
"I never before heard such a searching sermon. He convinced me more and more that we can preach the Gospel no further than we have experienced the power of it in our own hearts....Being deeply convicted of sin at his conversion, he has learned to experimentally dissect the heart of natural man. Hypocrites must either soon be converted or enraged at his preaching....He is a son of thunder and does not fear the faces of men."
Of course, the point of the original post was that the first hypocrite you must enrage with your preaching is the preacher himself.
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| [T4G] Ending Sermons w/out Pragmatic ApplicationMark Dever speaking to R.C. Sproul during the Panel Discussion on Sproul's sermon "The Curse Motif of the Atonement" [mp3]:
"You know one specific thing that I appreciated in the way you concluded was your last statement was not an imperative to us....But right at the end it was just about the sufficiency of Christ, and is hope enough. And I think it's a good thing as preachers of the gospel not simply to exhort people to respond, and we should do that, but also to exult in the fullness of Christ and His sufficiency. And I think that's an especially appropriate way to end a sermon on the gospel. Thank you brother, that was a good model on that."
The discussion immediately continues to the importance of being explicit in pragmatic application in a sermon. But the point was what are some appropriate ways finish a Gospel-centric sermon, and it's still appropriate to finish a sermon by simply exalting Christ in the minds of the congregation.
In this particular recording, they also go on to share stories. And boy are they good.
Here's one from Mark Dever:
"I have to admit, a couple of times at the Shepherds' Conference, I've had people come up to me and say "Dr. Mohler, would you sign my book?", and I have."
LOL
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| [Resolved 2008] Highlights: Session 8 - John Piper
[download MP3s]
On Eternal Torment:
John Piper mentioning some who argue against eternal conscious torment in hell:
"[They point out] what seems to be a disproportion between a finite life of sinning and an eternal scope of suffering. They said, 'Doesn't work. You have 70 or 80 years in which to accumulate sins, and then it's punish forever? Doesn't sound right." -John Piper
A Low View of Sin:
It seems they hold a serious underestimation of the severity of their sins. It's not that you have x number of years to accumulate sins against God. It's that you have x number of years to persist in perfect righteousness towards God. Any single failure to achieve that goal is defined as an infinitely heinous sin against God Himself.
"Now, Jonathan Edwards thought probably more deeply about hell and more gloriously about heaven than anyone... "the crime of one being despising and casting contempt on another is proportionately more or less heinous as he was under greater or less obligations to obey him. And therefore if there be any being that we are under infinite obligations to love, honor and obey, the contrary towards him must be infinitely faulty. Our obligation to love, honor and obey any being is in proportion to his honorableness, loveliness and authority. But God is a Being infinitely lovely because He hath infinite excellency and infinite beauty. So sin against God being a violation of infinite obligations must be a crime infinitely heinous, and so deserving of infinite punishment. The eternity of the punishment of ungoldly men renders it infinite and therefore renders it no more than proportionable to the heinousness of what they are guilty of."" - John Piper
It benefits nobody to downplay the severity of sin. Proclaiming sin as anything less than an infinitely horrific transgression against the dignity of the God is a lie that may effectively restrain a soul from true repentance.
A High View of Man
Another reason why men may find the idea of eternal torment in hell morally revolting is that they overestimate their own worth. Perhaps they think that 80 years of torment in hell should make up for their 80 years of sin (which is absolutely absurd.)
Do they honestly consider their own dignity and worth to be so great -- such that they are sacrifices fitting to exhaust the punitive demands of the God they sinned against? That would be an impossibility: Their sin, which calls down their condemnation, actually diminishes their worth and would therefore elongate their sentence.
"The length of your sin is not what makes the length of your suffering just. It's the height of your sin that makes the length of your suffering just. The height of your sin is measured by the dignity of the one you are sinning against, and it is an infinite dignity." -John Piper
A Low View of God
Piper went on to show that a confrontation with the terror of hell is not enough to awaken a soul to new life. But a confrontation with the intense glory and holiness of Christ is enough to shatter a sinner's own confidence.
A mind set on the true Gospel must be focused on God Himself. I think the people who find eternal torment in hell a "morally revolting" concept first have a fundamental deficiency in their reverence toward God, and therefore a deficiency in their revulsion towards their own sin
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| [Resolved 2008] Highlights: Session 3 - John MacArthur
No Sinner Escapes the Hand of God
"I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows....everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God." (Luke 12:4-9)
MacArthur reminded us that this passage is often cited to encourage others that they are important in God's eyes, but that Jesus used it to warn people that their sin is important in God's eyes. No sinner will "slip through the cracks", unnoticed by Christ.
We're all living on borrowed time.
And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, 'Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?' And he answered him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'" (Luke 13:6-9)
God has every right to cut down each sinner without delay. Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross not only bought redemption for believers, but time for repentance for unbelievers. The most universal gift of common grace is time. Time to repent. Time to believe in Jesus Christ.
"My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years." (Genesis 6:3)
When Adam sinned, God didn't execute him immediately, instead he graciously extended his race's lifespan from 0 seconds to 120 years.
"Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and
longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to
repentance?" (Romans 2:4)
It's a tragedy when people fail to recognize God's longsuffering.
I'm finally getting around to putting all my mental notes down. I'll make my way through the other sessions soon. Don't forget the free [downloads]! | | |
| The Cost of Good MPGDid a little excel work to see if it's really worth it to buy a more expensive car for more fuel economy (without sacrificing performance, of course).
I compared my current car (the A4 2.0T) which gets me 25 mpg on Premium against some up comming possibilities including more efficient gas and diesel options. And I threw in the expensive 3.0L V6 Diesel for the drool factor.
Conclusions:
• The extra cost for diesel fuel isn't that big of a factor. (and therefore premium vs regular unleaded is even less of a factor, so don't skimp if your car requires it, you cheapos).
• Long Term: Compared to my current car, you can almost justify the additional $10,000 for the high powered Diesel V6 which requires the more expensive Diesel fuel ($0.40 more per gallon), because it gets an additional 10 mpg. (14 years @ 15,000 mi/yr = 210,000 mi). But that's kind of a stretch.
• Short Term: After 3 years, in order to justify a $3,000 more expensive car which requires $0.40 more per gallon, it must get 21 mpg more!
• Bottom Line: Go for the cheaper car. But don't buy a cheap car if it doesn't get also get awesome gas mileage. And expensive cars that guzzle gas are evil.
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