Someone gave some great advice, “For every book you read from a living person, read three from a dead person.”

“He was numbered with the transgressors.”
Isaiah 53:12

Why did Jesus suffer himself to be enrolled amongst sinners? This wonderful condescension was justified by many powerful reasons. In such a character he could the better become their advocate. In some trials there is an identification of the counsellor with the client, nor can they be looked upon in the eye of the law as apart from one another.

Now, when the sinner is brought to the bar, Jesus appears there himself.

He stands to answer the accusation. He points to his side, his hands, his feet, and challenges Justice to bring anything against the sinners whom he represents;

he pleads his blood,
and pleads so triumphantly,
being numbered with them and having a part with them,

that the Judge proclaims,
“Let them go their way; deliver them from going down into the pit, for he hath found a ransom.”

Our Lord Jesus was numbered with the transgressors in order that they might feel their hearts drawn towards him. Who can be afraid of one who is written in the same list with us? Surely we may come boldly to him, and confess our guilt.

He who is numbered with us cannot condemn us. Was he not put down in the transgressor’s list that we might be written in the red roll of the saints? He was holy, and written among the holy; we were guilty, and numbered among the guilty; he transfers his name from yonder list to this black indictment, and our names are taken from the indictment and written in the roll of acceptance, for there is a complete transfer made between Jesus and his people.

All our estate of misery and sin Jesus has taken; and all that Jesus has comes to us. His righteousness, his blood, and everything that he hath he gives us as our dowry.

Rejoice, believer, in your union to him who was numbered among the transgressors; and prove that you are truly saved by being manifestly numbered with those who are new creatures in him.

Also, since it is a bit long, you can download the pdf as well.

I found it clear, concise, and well done.

You can find the post here.

I grew tired of the same acoustic guitar playing the same chords, using the same riff, with the same, in my opinion, shallow lyrics. I thought that I wasn’t a good Christian if I wasn’t listening to Passion or Hillsong or Jeremy Camp – because that was the music that every Christian was listening to.

About five years ago my wife introduced me to the music of Jimmy Needham. Mr. Needham’s music was differently. Although his main instrument of choice was an acoustic guitar, I was fascinated with his jive style and kind of Stevie Wonder-esk beat. His lyrics are thought provoking and real.

I also became a fan of Trip Lee‘s music as well.

A different genre, HipHop, which usually one thinks of drugs, sex, love of money, or big crosses around the neck laced with diamonds. But Trip Lee was different. His lyrics and beats came from a different source. A great source that changed the world with his death, burial, and resurrection. Of course, I’m referring to Jesus the Christ. Trip Lee’s music is dripping with Christ. It’s obvious that he has put in a lot of thought into his lyrics and beats – challenging believers in Jesus to understand what they believe and what to do with that belief. His recent album, Between Two Worlds is now on Amazon.

The two have recently come together on a couple of songs that are phenomenal. Jimmy Needham on his album Nightlights made a video that debuted just hours from this post being published. The song is called Grace Amazing.

Watch this twice – you’ll see why.

Watch the video here.

“Adoption mean God is not my Father
I got the hottest Poppa and by the Spirit holla Abba!”
-Shai Linne, Song: Atonement Q & A, Album: The Atonement

My wife and I are considering adoption once our son gets a little bit older. In an effort to bless our city (Denver), we are thinking of going with either a local adoption agency or being a part of the local foster care system with the hopes of one day adopting a child of any ethnicity.

It would be a beautiful thing to bring a small child home with us and call him/her our child – and for him/her to call me, father, and Rebecca, mother.

Similarly, God looked at us before the beginning of time and called us our son & daughter.  The “earthly” view of adoption is a great reminder of what God has done for us – and – the price Jesus paid for adoption to be accomplished.

John Piper, Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN, along with Desiring God talk about this idea more in full. Enjoy!

You can find the online message here.

The text has been known to some Christians as  the verses that explain away eternal security. When I was confronted with Hebrews 6 for the first time, I was taken back and had to study up on the doctrine of perseverance of the saints (or eternal security. That is, once you’ve been considered by God to be redeemed, or saved, you can fall completely away from the Christian faith. Your once secure eternal state with Jesus will be altered back to received God full wrath because of sins committed while you were a Christian.

(Hebrews 6:1-8 ESV)

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

Especially when it come to Jesus or the Scriptures.

Contemporary art meets the Bible.

My eyes were satisfied when viewing the works of Makoto Fujimura.

“We, today, have a language to celebrate waywardness, but we do not have a cultural language to bring people back home.”
-Makoto Fujimura

Mr. Fujimura has brought one of the most treasured manuscripts in the world, the Bible, and illuminated the words with his modern approach.

What was created was The Four Holy Gospels. Here is the copy from the press release by Crossway Publishing:

Renowned artist and writer Makoto Fujimura is not shy about the importance of his latest project. “Whether I like it or not, this is what I will be remembered by,” Fujimura asserts. “I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that it is a commission of the decade, if not more,” says Valerie Dillon, whose Dillon Gallery is Fujimura’s main exhibitor.

The commission is an illuminated manuscript published by Crossway, to commemorate the four hundred year anniversary of The King James Bible, set to be released January 2011. The leather-bound English Standard Version of the Bible, printed with a six-color metallic process, will comprise the four Gospels as designed and illustrated by Fujimura. Five major new works, painted in the artist’s Manhattan studio, will be the volume’s main images, making this the first such manuscript to feature abstract contemporary art in lieu of traditional representational illustrations. It is this unprecedented marriage of a modern, usually secular art form with ancient scripture that most interests Fujimura, who aims to depict “the greater reality that the Bible speaks of… for the pure sake of integrating faith and art in our current pluralistic, multicultural world.”

Desiring God has made these collections available as a  discounted price here.

You can also download an excerpt of The Four Gospels.

I am encouraged to see churches throughout the country welcome this form of expression. So long have churches shunned artists and their ability to communicate. Thanks be to God for artists that communicate Christ well.

Follow Makoto Fujimura on Twitter @iamfujimura

–Follow me on Twitter @Armando923

Those were the words of John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN, on his facebook page referring to Rob Bell‘s recent book, Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.

Those words rang loudly, and saddened me, as I was reading two posts from Justin Taylor titled “Rob Bell: Universalist?“ and Kevin DeYoung titled “To Hell With Hell“.

Head over to these two readings to gain more insight. Here are some of the highlights:

Justin Taylor writes in his posting:

It is unspeakably sad when those called to be ministers of the Word distort the gospel and deceive the people of God with false doctrine.

But it is better for those teaching false doctrine to put their cards on the table (a la Brian McLaren) rather than remaining studiously ambiguous in terminology.

Kevin DeYoung writes about the importance of understanding the wrath of God (please read his entire posting for a full unwrapping of each point). Excerpted from Why We’re Not Emergent:

First, we need God’s wrath to keep us honest about evangelism.

Second, we need God’s wrath in order to forgive our enemies.

Third, we need God’s wrath in order to risk our lives for Jesus’ sake.

Fourth, we need God’s wrath in order to live holy lives.

Fifth, we need God’s wrath in order to understand what mercy means.

Sixth, we need God’s wrath in order to grasp how wonderful heaven will be.

Seventh, we need the wrath of God in order to be motivated to care for our impoverished brothers and sisters.

Eighth, we need God’s wrath in order to be ready for the Lord’s return.

– Follow me on Twitter @Armando923

I’m more and more impressed with this new line of music that puts Christ on display well. Enjoy!

Hook:
Bout time that we do this thing right,
man it’s about time that we make her my wife
If she’s a friend and a woman of God,
needs to be treated like a sister in Christ

Bout time that we follow His word,
if she’s your woman then love her like Christ loved the church
Let’s not confuse this love with eros, phileo,
but keep this relationship right

Verse 1:
Saturday evening we all chilling at my boy’s crib,
debating, philosophizing like Paul at Mars Hill
And then she walked in and caught my eye as she walked by,
I thought why not I sought her out, posted up, started talking
Played my position right, prayed my decisions right,
but she’s a Christian right, seems my decisions right
So I pursued her and called and tried to suture her heart up,
and sweep her off her feet, hoping that my future has got her
Spending time together, feeling intertwined together,
life is so sublime together, I could see her down forever,
I’m so in love with this girl man,
I can’t see myself without her up in this world man,
when I was down she was down in a hurry man,
she calmed me down through my problems and my worries man,
And plus she took away my bad time putting a smile on my face,
even during sad times, to me this girl blows my mind

Hook

Verse 2:
It’s been 7 months and things ain’t as good as it was,
we seem to grow apart like distant relatives does
And in a panic we, franticly, tried to handle this, dismantle this?,
that’s not an option for us in our relationship
Sadly we turned to lust, thought that would be enough,
see ran to it for the rush, all the while we losing touch
Ignoring that we sinning, living to regain a feeling,
trying our hardest to recapture this love thru hugging a kissing
But this ain’t working man, feels like a burden man,
don’t know what happened but this feels like it ain’t worth it man
I tried hard to have a change of heart, I really did,
I beg the Lord to come and flame the spark, said I’d repent
But out of obligation feels like I gotta stay
but deep inside I’m fight pride, wishing that I got away
I gotta pray cause now a day’s I treat her like
I never knew her when the truth was I’d probably feel her if she was newer

Hook

Verse 3:
To many times I see this cycle like in Judges,
a guy approaches a girl and tries to date her without proper judgement
He just goes off his senses, cause of looks he get’s in this,
no proper perspective of purpose so he calls it friendship
While she thinks that you’re dating, she sits back patient,
waiting debating your intentions, wishing for more than conversation
But guys are so passive and that’s our sin man,
like Adam we go with the flow but leadings on the men man
So what’s your true motive cause some of us are players living on the low,
we play with hearts but when it comes to love we saying no
Improperly engaging the hearts of these ladies,
if you have no plan or purpose of pursuit, ain’t no point in dating
This seems old school, I know it’s old dude,
but we suffer if things ain’t done the way they suppose to
I know you like her but check your motives, make sure their right,
and guard her heart exhorting her as a sister in Christ