Round the Sphere Again: No Other Gods Before Me

Because ignorance is idolatry.

Two from TFan
Scriptural proof that God does not change. (Thoughts of Francis Turretin)

Explicit and implicit scriptural statements of God’s sin-forgiving ability. (Alpha & Omega Ministries Apologetics Blog)

Two for Your Library
From TGC Reviews on Philip Ryken’s new book, Discovering God in Stories from the Bible:

If you set out to preach to your church or teach your small group a series of lessons on the attributes of God, how would you do it?  Would you collect a series of thematic Bible verses? Would you follow a creed, a confession, or a statement of faith?  More to the point, what resources would you use: A couple systematic theologies? A Bible dictionary? Or a concordance to find key words?

Without replacing any of these methods or resources, Philip Graham Ryken … has provided a wonderful resource for anyone wanting to know more about God and his manifold perfections in his book Discovering God in Stories from the Bible. His express purpose in writing this theological primer is to “know God more intimately” and to help others do the same by studying God’s Word for the purpose of adoring God by the power of the Spirit and in accordance with the truth of God’s revelation….

Read the whole book review.

And from Ligonier Ministries Blog on Holy, Holy, Holy: Proclaiming the Perfections of God, a book adapted from the addresses at the 2009 Ligonier Ministries National Conference:

Tragically, the holiness of God has been obscured in our time, and as a result, the church’s doctrine and ethics have been tarnished, entertainment has replaced worship in many places, the gospel is misunderstood and neglected, and the church assimilates itself to the culture instead of seeking to transform it through the preaching of God’s Word. Holy, Holy, Holy: Proclaiming the Perfections of God is adapted from the addresses at the 2009 Ligonier Ministries National Conference. It unfolds the character of God and the holiness that sets Him apart.

Read excerpts from this book.

Two for Listening
I listened to both of these during home improvement projects this week and recommend them to you.

• D. A. Carson’s talk on God from this year’s NEXT conference. (Update: Here’s the outline of this sermon.)
• Phil Johnson’s recent sermon on God’s immutability.  Grace Community Church has begun a summer-long series of sermons on the attributes of God. I’ve only listened (so far) to this one by Phil, but I’m betting they’re all good.

Round the Sphere Again: Word

Inscripturated Word and Incarnated Word
Kevin DeYoung says “we should approach the Scriptures with the same reverence we would have in approaching Christ.”

Word of Faith
I’m reading Romans 10 and I’ve been hung up over verses 5-8. Paul quotes from two Old Testament texts (Leviticus 18:5 and Deuteronomy 30:11-14) and says  that the first is what righteousness based on the law says and the second is what righteousness based on faith says. But when you go back to the OT context, it looks like the two texts are saying more or less the same thing. It’s easy to see that the Leviticus passage is about righteousness based on the law: “the person who does the commandments shall live by them.” But how does the Deuteronomy passage point us to righteousness based on faith?

I have two Romans commentaries and several study Bible, but none of them helped me a whole lot. The most helpful thing was this sermon by John Piper. He says that Paul sees the Deuteronomy passage as pointing to Christ as our righteousness. The key point in the Deuteronomy passage is that the law is doable, but we all know—Paul included—that no one but Christ has ever measured up to the law’s standards. Read the sermon to see Piper’s  four step answer to how Paul sees Deuteronomy 30:11-14 as pointing to Christ as our righteousness the way Romans 10:4 says it does.

Round the Sphere Again: Gospel Truth

The Loving Thing
is to spread the good news. John Piper’s newest book, Jesus: The Only Way to God, uses the Bible to answer these three three questions:

1. Is there an eternal hell of conscious torment to be rescued from? Answer: Yes (Chapter 2).
2. Is the death and resurrection of Christ essential for that rescue? Answer: Yes (Chapter 3).
3. And do people need to hear this good news and believe it in order to be rescued? Answer: Yes (Chapters 4-7).

If You’re Gonna Spread It
you gotta know it. (HT: Justin Taylor)

What is the Gospel? from Southern Seminary on Vimeo.