Veritas et Lux

ECHOES OF EDEN – Jerram Barrs (2013)

Echoes of Eden by Jerram Barrs sets out to explore literature and the arts and its relation to the historic Christian faith. With a deep commitment to the Christian worldview, the author helps readers navigate their way through the minefield of the arts.

One of the chief contentions of the author is that “great art contains elements of the true story: the story of the good creation, the fallen world, and the longing for redemption.” He argues that people long for a return to Eden – where truth, beauty and righteousness reign.

Barrs shows readers how books like The Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings constitute great art by recalling the “echoes of Eden.” But in a bold move, the author also demonstrates how the so-called Echoes of Eden emerges in works by Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and J.K. Rowling.

Echoes of Eden is a book that Christians need to study and reflect on with a sober mind and an open heart. I felt as if I were reading a new book by Francis Schaeffer – a high compliment to the author. But beware: Readers will be challenged to “think Christianly” as Schaeffer used to say. Some readers will walk away convicted. Others will walk away challenged. At the end of the day, every reader will benefit from reading Barr’s work.

4 stars

FOR THE CITY – Darrin Patrick and Matt Carter (2011)

For the City by Darrin Patrick and Matt Carter is a book for pastors, church planters and Christ-followers who want to make a difference in their respective cities. The heartbeat of the authors is to instill a passion for proclaiming the gospel faithfully and living the gospel in authentic, transparent, gospel-centered communities.

There is much to commend here but I especially appreciate the fiercely anti-pragmatic approach which is grounded in gospel-centered ministry. The authors present four approaches to the city. The first three are popular but do not reflect the burden of the New Testament.

Church IN the City

This first approach reflect churches that are merely in the city, geographically. While they strive to get people to church to hear the gospel, there is very little interaction with the city itself. This approach may be well-intentioned but doesn’t go far enough.

Church AGAINST the City

This approach opposes the city and carries an “us vs. them” mentality. Examples abound here. Frankly, these churches are an embarrassment to the evangelical world.

Church OF the City

Here is the opposite extreme. Instead of blatantly opposing the city, the approach caters to the whims of the city and leans heavily on a postmodern ethos and as a result, loses its saltiness and gospel influence. Some emergent churches live here. Horrible!

Church FOR the City

The authors hold the final option as the only option for the New Testament church: In this approach, “the church speaks the truth of the gospel and is not afraid to uphold a biblical worldview and moral standard. Such a church proclaims the truths of Scripture with passion, clarity, and boldness. At the same time, though, this is a church that commits itself to seeking the shalom, the flourishing, of the city. This means seeking the shalom of the people they live in community with, living sacrificially and using their gifts, time, and money to seek the peace and prosperity of their neighbors.”

While the authors never hint at it, this author wonders out loud whether a stringent premillennialism (and I’m premillennial) has negatively influenced churches that would otherwise exist as a church FOR the city.

For the City is filled with practical help, strong admonitions, and bold challenges. A timely work from two seasoned church planters.

3.5 stars

CHARLES HODGE: The Pride of Princeton – W. Andrew Hoffecker (2011)

Who says reviews don’t matter? “I could not put Hoffecker’s book down.” Seven simple words uttered by Dr. John Frame prompted me to pick up Charles Hodge: The Pride of Princeton by W. Andrew Hoffecker. The author makes a solid contribution in P & R’s American Reformed Biographies Series.

I first encountered Charles Hodge in Seminary. His piece on the decrees of God made an indelible imprint on my mind and has influenced my thinking since those early days. Hoffecker’s work puts skin on the bones that I was confronted with in my Seminary days. Here we find a man of courage and a man of deep conviction. Charles Hodge was a man willing to put his neck on the line and battle for truth. He laid the groundwork for men who would follow and continue to fight on the theological battlefield; men like B.B. Warfield and Gresham Machen.

A few highlights worth mentioning include Hodges’ faithful fight against liberalism. Like today, the liberalism of the 19th century was popular and would influence young minds if left unchallenged. Hodge was not content to sit by idly. He boldly confronted the pernicious error of 19th century liberalism (which oddly enough is seeking to permeate the church once again – primarily through many emergent sympathizers).

The second highlight is Hodges’ unwavering commitment to Reformed theology. Call him a guardian, a defender, an apologist – or just a diehard Reformed theologian. Hodge may have been willing to sacrifice certain negotiable doctrinal points. But he drew the line in the sand when it came to the doctrines of grace.

Charles Hodge is a model of teaching excellence. He is a worthy example of what it means to stand for the truth in a dark world. Young pastors and seasoned pastors alike would do well to emulate the courage and conviction of the Pride of Princeton – Charles Hodge.

4 stars

PLASTIC DONUTS – Jeff Anderson (2013)

SUPERNATURAL LIVING FOR NATURAL PEOPLE – Raymond Ortlund Jr.

If Ray Ortlund Jr. wrote a book about dirt, I would gobble it up. I respect him that much. So when Dr. Ortlund puts his hand to the plow and excavates some of the jewels that emerge in Romans chapter 8, I’m an eager learner. Of course, Ortlund does not disappoint. The title of the book is Supernatural Living For Natural People: The Life-Giving Message of Romans 8.

The author carefully walks readers through Paul major arguments in Romans 8 that include key doctrinal realities including justification, mortification, vivification, among other things.

At the heart of the book is a reliance on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. A gospel-centeredness pervades this work that serves as a “sledge hammer” that destroys legalism that is such a part of local churches: “So when the grandeur of the Christian hope comes home to our hearts, all nit-picky legalism and foot-dragging complacency are seen to be absurd. The gospel spreads magnificence out before us. So away with our gloomy unbelief.” The book stands in the Reformed tradition and is undergirded by weighty Calvinistic presuppositions.

Dr. Ortlund has a unique ability that combines the mind of a scholar with the heart of a pastor. His exegetical work is superb and his application is directed to real people who live in the real world.

Highly recommended!

UNVEILING GRACE: The Story of How We Found Our Way Out of the Mormon Church – Lynn Wilder (2013)

Unveiling Grace: The Story of How We Found Our Way Out of the Mormon Church by Lynn K. Wilder is the gripping account of a longtime member of the Mormon Church and how she and her family found their way out of a works-based religious system. What makes the story even more fascinating is that Wilder is also a former tenured professor at Brigham Young University.

Dr. Wilder guides readers on her journey into Mormonism which lasted over 30 years and unfolds the remarkable story of their exit, all due to the biblical gospel and Christ’s saving work on the cross for her sins. What makes the story especially enduring is the love that the author expresses for her Mormon friends. She is careful not to build straw man arguments. Rather, she carefully assesses the fabric of LDS theology and compares it with sacred Scripture. When the tapestry began to unravel (which includes works-based righteousness, polytheism, baptism for the dead, and a man-centered gospel among other things), Wilder asked more questions and subjected Mormon teaching to the scrutiny of Scripture which led to her eventual departure from Mormonism and saving faith in the biblical Jesus.

The book is a reminder to Christ-followers to pursue their Mormon friends and challenge them with the biblical gospel. It is a testimony to sovereign grace – grace that has the power to remove the blinders from someone who has been deceived by teaching that is antithetical to Scripture.

Soli Deo Gloria!

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review.

SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD – Jonathan Edwards (1741)

I’ll never forget a very special evening with a small group of Christ-followers at the McLean home. My good friend, Don suggested that we read Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards in one sitting – on our knees. And so a group of middle-aged adults gathered in Don’s living room alongside several children (whose knees were much more nimble) – and we read Edward’s classic sermon – on our knees. It is a moment I will not soon forget. We were humbled. We were drawn into the very presence of God. And like the 18th-century congregation in Enfield – we were cut to the quick.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is not only one of the most well-known sermons in American history; it is one of the most powerful sermons every preached on American soil. In one sermon, the Puritan divine highlights both the awesome wrath of a holy God and the matchless grace of Jesus Christ.

This is a sermon which has received a fair amount of criticism over the years. It is maligned and caricatured. Often found on a list of required reading for college English courses, the sermon is mocked for its candid language and scary images. Many readers simply cannot stomach the God that Edwards presents or submit to the God that Edwards loves and serves.

The sermon is derived from Deuteronomy 32:35 – “Their foot shall slide in due time.” The doctrine that Edwards sets forth is simple: “There is nothing that keeps wicked men at one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.” This doctrine is undergirded by ten propositions:

1. There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment.

2. They deserve to be cast into hell; so that divine justice never stands in the way, it makes no objection against God’s using his power at any moment to destroy them.

3. They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell.

4. They are not the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God, that is expressed in the torments of hell: “The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow.

5. The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own, at what moment God shall permit him.

6. There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning, that would presently kindle and flame out into hell fire, if it were not for God’s restraints. There is laid in the very nature of carnal men, a foundation for the torments of hell.

7. It is no security to wicked men for one moment, that there are no visible means of death at hand.

8. Natural men’s prudence and care to preserve their own lives, or the care of others to preserve them, do not secure them a moment.

9. All wicked men’s pains and contrivance which they use to escape hell, while they continue to reject Christ, and so remain wicked men, do not secure them from hell one moment.

10. God has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise, to keep any natural man out of hell one moment.

Edwards concludes with a strong application which is meant to awaken sinners and flee from the wrath of God. Readers are faced with a momentous decision as Edward alerts them to the painful reality of God’s wrath: “There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell’s wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor anything to take hold of; there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.”

Readers are challenged to take advantage of “the door of mercy wide open” which beckons them to receive the grace of God in Christ. Edwards concluding words leave sinners with an important decision; the most decision they will ever make: “Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let every one fly out of Sodom: “Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed.”

The “flag” of tolerance is flying in America. The “flag” of relativism has been unfurled in this land. The “flag” of compromise flies high and is accepted, even within the church. Indeed, a God-dishonoring “flag” celebrating homosexuality was unveiled at Safeco Field in Seattle a few days ago. Jonathan Edwards raises his “flag” higher and reminds sinners (homosexuals and heterosexuals alike) that God will not tolerate their sin. God hates their sin. And this great God offers mercy and forgiveness for anyone who repents and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ!

MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Advise on What to Read

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

My advice to you is: Read Jonathan Edwards. Stop going to so many meetings; stop craving for the various forms of entertainment which are so popular in evangelical circles at the present time. Learn to stay at home. Learn to read again, and do not merely read the exciting stories of certain modern people. Go back to something solid and deep and real.

Are we losing the art of reading? Revivals have often started as the result of people reading volumes such as these two volumes of Edwards’ works. So read this man. Decide to do so. Read his sermons; read his practical treatises, and then go on to the great discourses on theological subjects.

—D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Jonathan Edwards and the Crucial Importance of Revival,”Puritans: Their Origins and Successors (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1987), 369-370.

Lloyd-Jones elsewhere explained the importance of this practice in his own ministry:

In my early days in the ministry there were no books which helped me more, both personally and in respect of my preaching, than the two-volume edition of the Works of Jonathan Edwards. . . . I devoured these volumes and literally just read and reread them. It is certainly true that they helped me more than anything else. . . . If I had the power I would make these two volumes compulsory reading for all ministers!

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/

GOD GLORIFIED IN MAN’S DEPENDENCE – Jonathan Edwards

“God is glorified in the work of redemption in this, that there appears in it so absolute and universal a dependence of the redeemed on him.” This is the doctrine that Jonathan Edwards sets forth in his sermon, God Glorified in Man’s Dependence. He provides two central anchors that support his doctrine.

“… So that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”” (1 Corinthians 1:29–31, ESV)

Anchor # 1: There is an absolute and universal dependence of the redeemed on God

Edwards is concerned to show how the people of God depend upon the Trinity for everything. He demonstrates how the “redeemed have all from the grace of God.” He reminds us that God is sovereign in the distribution of his grace, a truth that was and continues to be rarely taught from the pulpit: “God may forever deny holiness to the fallen creature if he pleases, without any disparagement to any of his perfections.”

He demonstrates how we receive all from the power of God, that is to say, “we are dependent on God’s power through every step of our redemption. We are dependent on the power of God to convert us, and give faith in Jesus Christ, and the new nature.”

Anchor # 2: God is exalted and glorified in the work of redemption

1. Man hath so much the greater occasion and obligation to notice and acknowledge God’s perfections and all-sufficiency.

2. Hereby is demonstrated how great God’s glory is considered comparatively, or as compared with the creatures.

3. By its being thus ordered, that the creature should have so absolute and universal a dependence on God, provision is made that God should have our whole souls, and should be the object of our undivided respect.

Application

In ascribing everything to God, Edwards is primarily concerned for us to exalt in him alone. He closes with strong words of admonition: “Let us be exhorted to exalt God alone, and ascribe to him all the glory of redemption … But this doctrine should teach us to exalt God alone: as by trust and reliance, so by praise. Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord.”

God Glorified in Man’s Dependence is a Semi-Pelagian sledgehammer, destroying every ounce of human pride and self-effort. Edwards puts the axe to Arminian axioms that while well-intentioned rob God of the glory which is rightly his. Each line of the sermon chips away at the human propensity to receive glory and take credit for what rightly belongs to God. Edwards reminds us that everything we have is owing to God; that he is sovereign in the distribution of his grace. Indeed, God is glorified in man’s dependence.

NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES – Alistair Begg and Sinclair Ferguson (2013)

“Don’t you folks ever read your Bibles?” These were among the first words I heard from the lips of Dr. John G. Mitchell, founder of Multnomah School of the Bible – recently renamed Multnomah University. I’ll never forget the time Dr. Mitchell walked up to me, a man in his mid 80’s with clenched fists and asked if I wanted to fight! Joking of course, the elder Scotsman truly loved the student body at Multnomah. Not many months before he went to be with the Lord, we were instructed to stop applauding him as he took to the lectern. The sound of 800 students clapping jangled his nerves and wreaked havoc on his hearing aids. So in those last days, we merely stood as a sign of respect as the great teacher made his way to the preachers desk. “Don’t you folks ever read your Bibles?” he would ask, with a glimmer in his eye. He would challenge us with fiery passion to preach Christ faithfully and to pursue holiness – all to the glory of God. Dr. Mitchell would constantly encourage us, “I want you to know the glory of the Savior.” He knew the Savior; he knew the saving benefits of his cross-work; and he wanted everyone to experience the same. He wanted us to know the name above all names, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Alistair Begg and Sinclair Ferguson, who like Dr. Mitchell also hail from Scotland have an identical passion. They want the world to know, embrace and worship – The Name Above All Names. The Crossway title is a solid offering that explores some core components of Christology. The authors do not intend to present a full-orbed Christology; rather their aim is to present seven snapshots that concern the person and work of Christ:

1. Jesus Christ, the Seed of the Woman

2. Jesus Christ, the True Prophet

3. Jesus Christ, the Great High Priest

4. Jesus Christ, the Conquering King

5. Jesus Christ, the Son of Man

6. Jesus Christ, the Suffering Servant

7. Jesus Christ, the Lamb on the Throne

The book while intensely theological, is written is a devotional tone that is suitable for beginners and veterans of the Christian faith. Like Dr. Mitchell who went before them, these Scottish writers have a passion for Christ that needs fanning in America. Perhaps the flicker will turn into a flame!