How Disgusting Is Sin?

I love the famous and weighty statement by John Owen about sin that goes like this: "BE KILLING SIN OR SIN WILL BE KILLING YOU." Sin is a killer and it is a disgusting one at that. But if you're like me you don't always picture sin as disgusting. Sometimes you may even picture it as something pleasing or enticing and you play around with it. As I was struggling with temptation yesterday I started listening to two songs that paint a grouse and I think accurate picture of what sin really looks like in God's eyes.

The first is from Lecrae's song "Live Free":
"sin so bad it's a liar/ it's says we on the throne tells God to retire/ it's says He ain't enough/ and it says we want more/ is says He ain't Just and it says He ain't Lord/ Sin is the laugh at his power/ rape of his mercy/ mock of his patience/ it say He ain't worthy"

The second is from Timothy Brindle's song "The Sinfulness of Sin":
"Sin is lawlessness, an awful mess of haughtiness/
Sin is not being in awe of His ---Glory/
But degrading it and trading it for naughtiness/
It's treating God as piss/
It's disregarding that He exists as Sovereign/
It's more sickening than kissing harlots lips/
Whose breath stinks worse than garbage mixed/
With the rawest fish after she gargles spit/
Sin's an awful virus that wants your iris/
Clogs your sinus, gives you thoughts of violence/
Woe to those who think it's not inside us/
Your heart despises the awesome Highness/
Gross scum, sin is so loathsome/
And it's shown most by the propitiation of His own Son/
Who so hung and choke both lungs/
It's odor to Jehovah its worse than smoked dung/
I pray this makes you vomit your whole inners/
To display how abominable sin is/
To the honorable God who's my witness/
If we take sin lightly, let's go to the cross to convince us/
Where He slaughtered the sinless/
Infinitely valuable Son who paid an infinite cost for forgiveness/
Cause that's the only way the infinitely holy Yahweh can take us off of His hit list.

Hook:
Sin is any thought that's not morally pure/
Sin is loving anything else more than the Lord/
Sin is breaking His laws, forsaking His commandments/
Sin is hatred for God, it's blatantly Satanic

Verse 2:
Sin's idolatry and serving yourself/
It's hating God's riches and worshipping wealth/
Sin is substituting other ugly doings/
For God the Son who's the lovely true King/
Sin is taking His glory and stomping, trampling on it/
Often we're mocking dancing upon it/
Sin is not enjoying what's most glorious/
Namely the Lord so of course He's abhorring this/
It's not valuing what's most valuable/
Namely the Hallowed King who's so powerful/
Sin is not thanking God, it's ingratitude/
For this grim attitude, His wrath is due/
And every time we err or a lie is blurred/
The Bible says that we've despised His Word/
It's not just sexual sin detested by Him/
But any expression of enmity manifested within/
From silent pride to violent eyes/
to the finest thighs we idolize/
Or the wisest guys who privatize bribes they hide/
It's all despised in the Messiah's eyes/
You're too pure to look at evil of crooked people/
Who took cathedrals and made them crooks casinos/
It's God's most despicable enemy/
Sin would be the grossest sight if it were a physical entity.

When I dwell on these depictions of sin it helps to align my mind and my heart to hate sin and love Jesus because it is only because of him that I was saved, I am being saved, and I will be saved from my sin.

Don't Waste Your Life Music Video

One of my favorite Hip-Hoppin Jesus lovers, Lecrae, just came out with a new music video for his song "Don't Waste Your Life."

Here is the music video:


Here is an interview that Lecrae did with Dwayne Tryumf about the significance behind the first two songs on his newest album, Rebel:

Jesus Is Alive

Jesus Resurrection		Matthew	Mark	Luke	John
Sunday	Empty Tomb Witnesses	28:1-8	16:1-8	24:1-12
	Resurrection Appearances	28:9-20	16:9-20	24:13-53	20:1-21:25

Here is a chart that I manually copied from the ESV Study Bible containing the references in the gospels to the events of Resurrection Sunday.

Below are some resources that are related to the resurrection and are meant to enable to bask in the glory of our great Risen Savior.

Sermons:

I Have Authority to Lay it Down and I Have Authority to Take it Up Again- John Piper

Christ the Lord is Risen Today- Ligon Duncan

The Resurrection, It's Relevance Today- D. Martyn Lloyd Jones

I Will Raise it Up- Tim Keller

A Resurrection Hymn- John MacArthur

Easter- Francis Chan (preached on 3/23/08)

Songs:

Jesus Is Alive- Shai Linne

Before the Throne of God Above- Selah

Hallelujah What A Savior- Vicky Beeching

In Christ Alone- Newsboys

Beautiful Savior- Stuart Townsend

Don't Waste Your Life- Lecrae

"Paul said if Christ ain't resurrect then we wasted our lives

well that implies that our life's built around Jesus being alive

everyday I'm living tryin' show the world why

Christ is more than everything you'll ever try" -Lecrae

Searching the Wounds of the Savior

Two quotes that I always keep coming back to in my head when I have lost my way are:

The Cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled,
but we have to get near enough for its sparks to fall on us.
-John Stott

Abide hard by the cross and search the mystery of His wounds.
-C.H. Spurgeon

So to that end I recommend these songs, sermons, and books to help you draw near to the Cross:

Songs:

The Cross- Shai Linne

The Humility of Christ- Timothy Brindle

How Deep the Father's Love For Us- Fernando Ortega

In Evil Long I Took Delight- John Newton

The Wonderful Cross- Chris Tomlin

The Glories of Calvary- Sovereign Grace

Sermons:

Boasting Only in the Cross- John Piper

The Main Thing Part 1- C.J. Mahaney

Jesus Died in Our Place- Mark Driscoll

Why Trust a Cross?- D.A. Carson

The First Cry from the Cross- C.H. Spurgeon

The Cross (5 Part Series)- Francis Chan
(scroll down the media player to the date of 6/12/05)

Books:

Cross of Christ- John Stott

Living the Cross Centered Life- C.J. Mahaney

Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die- John Piper

Sermons on the Cross of Christ- C.H. Spurgeon

Discovering the Power of the Cross of Christ- C.H. Spurgeon

The Gospel for Real Life- Jerry Bridges

Death by Love- Mark Driscoll

Tell Me That Ol' Story

The great ol' story is the story of the Father and the Son working together to save a rebellious humanity by making the ultimate sacrifice. The Father must part with the Son and the Son must be depart from the Father. The Father must punish the Son and the Son must bear the punishment of the Father meant for sinners. The Father must abandon the Son and The Son must be forsaken by the Father. The Father must make the Son to be sin on sinners behalf and the Son must suffer the Father's punishment for sin on sinners behalf.



Isaiah 52:13-53:12 depicts the story best, as Franz Delitzsch said "it looks as if it had been written beneath the cross upon Golgotha."

Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
so shall he sprinkle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which has not been told them they see,
and that which they have not heard they understand.
Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.

There must have been deep anguish in the Father's heart when He righteously poured out His wrath upon the Son and there was deep agony weighing upon the Son when He drank the cup of the Father's wrath but there was another emotion. Isaiah 53:10 says it was "the will (or pleasure) of the Lord to crush Him." How could that be? How could the Father ever will or take pleasure in that? Well let me illustrate it by quoting a story that John Piper wrote to highlight this mind numbing verse:

Once there was a land ruled by a wicked prince. He had come from a foreign country and enslaved all the people of the land and made them miserable with hard labor in his coal mines across the deep canyon. He had built a massive trestle for the trains that carried his slaves across the canyon to the mines each morning, and it was heavily guarded.

Two men were still free in this land—one old and the other young. They lived on an inaccessible cliff overlooking the trestle. They hated the trestle, and they resolved together to blow it up. They planned and they prayed and they reminded themselves of the reality of heaven.

The night for the deed came. Their hearts were pounding with joy. It was a hard plan. It would be possible to time the guard's trek so that the explosive could be carried quickly to the vulnerable spot on the trestle. But it is certain that the man would be seen on the way back. To make sure the trestle blew up the young man would detonate it by hand on the trestle.

But they believed in heaven and they loved the people of the land. And so even this sacrifice made their hearts leap with joy. The hour came. They folded their map, stood from the table, and embraced each other. When the young man got to the door, he turned with the explosive on his back, looked at the old man, and said, "I love you, Father." And the old man took a deep breath—with joy—and said, "I love you too, Son."

So, may this Good Friday be a time when you drink richly of the love of God and search deeply the wounds of the Savior.

The Formation of Holy Hip-Hop

Shai Linne was recently interviewed by Bob Lepine, host of the Family Life Today radio show Ear Reverent. In the interview Shai Linne talks about the history of Hip-Hop, his personal testimony, and what Holy Hip-Hop is all about. This is a good concise interview to listen to if you are interested in understanding the movement known as Holy Hip-Hop. Here is a link to the interview.

Gospel Conference @ Cornerstone Church

Cornerstone Church (led by Pastor Francis Chan) in Simi Valley, CA recently held a Gospel Conference centered around...well you guessed it...the Gospel. But it also included the idea of Gospel Community and Gospel Mission. Gospel Community is a group of believers committed to being Gospel-centered people in the community they live in. Also, Gospel Mission is living out the call of the gospel, which is declaring and demonstrating Jesus Christ, to the unbelieving world around you.

The Conference was led by Pastors Jeff Vanderstelt and David Fairchild. I had never heard of these men before but once I heard them speak and talk about the Gospel and how they were living it out I wanted to join forces with them right then and there. Both of these men are part of the Acts 29 Church planting ministry, which is headed up by Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seatlle, WA. Here is a list of the messages with links to the audio & video, please feel free to take a listen and I know you will be deeply challenged and edified:

1.The Gospel and Its Implications, Part 1 (Jeff Vanderstelt)
2. The Gospel and Its Implications, Part 2 (Jeff Vanderstelt)

NOTE: Cornerstone has not posted all the media files for the conference. I will update the blog when they do.

UPDATE: Cornerstone has put the 3 other main sessions on their media player here.

If Philippians 1:21 were written in Hip-Hop Format

Here is a fan-made youtube video of the song "F-A-N-A-T-I-C." This song is by the Holy Hip-Hop artist Lecrae (who happens to be my favorite music artist right now). It encapsulates what it means to live out Philippians 1:21 "to live is Christ and to die is gain."

Feel free to give it a listen (the lyrics are embedded in the video):