The Finished Work of Christ

Journey Out of Arminianism

Dr. Sam Wilson and Pastor Chris Wiley, former pastors in the Church of the Nazarene denomination, speak with Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron on the theme- From Man's Free Will to God's Free Grace. See the original post and download the MP3 here.

The Role of the Devil in God's Plan

Declaring War on The Sinner's Prayer

Mark Dever Interview

Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron recently interviewed Mark Dever, senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., on the theme of his popular book- "Nine Marks of a Healthy Church." See the post at Iron Sharpen's Iron here where you will find a link to download the MP3.

Jesus Died! - Paul Washer

I need to watch this every day.

The Wrath of God and The Hatred of Sin

By Charles Leiter

Who Killed Jesus?

by John MacArthur
This article originally appeared here at Grace to You.


"The murder of Jesus was a vast conspiracy involving Rome, Herod, the Gentiles, the Jewish Sanhedrin, and the people of Israel--diverse groups who were seldom fully in accord with one another. In fact, it is significant that the crucifixion of Christ is the only historical event where all those factions worked together to achieve a common goal. All were culpable. All bear the guilt together. The Jews as a race were no more or less blameworthy than the Gentiles.

This is very plainly stated in Acts 4:27, a corporate prayer offered in an assembly of the very earliest believers: "For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together." So there is no justification whatsoever for trying to fix the blame for Jesus' death on any one people group. This was, in essence, a corporate act of sinful humanity against God. All are guilty together.

And yet even that does not exhaust the full truth about who killed Jesus. Scripture emphasizes from cover to cover that the death of Christ was ordained and appointed by God Himself. One of the key Old Testament prophecies about the crucifixion is Isaiah 53. Isaiah prophetically describes the torture of the Messiah at the hands of a scoffing mob, and then adds, "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief" (Isaiah 53:10).


God put his own Son to death?

That is precisely what Scripture teaches. Why? According to Isaiah 53:10 , it was to "make His soul an offering for sin." God had a redemptive purpose.

The designs of those who killed Christ were entirely murderous. They are by no means exonerated from their evil, just because God's purposes are good. It was still the act of "lawless hands" (Acts 2:23). It was, as far as the human perpetrators were concerned, an act of pure evil. The wickedness of the crucifixion is in no sense mitigated by the fact that God sovereignly ordained it for good. The truth that it was His sovereign plan makes the deed itself no less a diabolical act of murder.

And yet this was clearly God's holy and sovereign plan from before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). Look again at that prayer from Acts 4, this time in its full context:

Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: "Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the LORD and against His Christ." For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done (Acts 4:24-28), emphasis added).

Acts 2:23 echoes the same thought: "Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death" (emphasis added).

God ordained the murder of Jesus. Or to put it starkly in the words of Isaiah 53:10, it pleased the Lord to bruise Him.


In what sense was God pleased by the death of his Son?

He was pleased by the redemption that was accomplished. He was pleased that His eternal plan of salvation was thus fulfilled. He was pleased with the sacrifice of his Son, who died so that others might have eternal life. He was pleased to display his righteous anger against sin in such a graphic way. He was pleased to demonstrate His love for sinners through such a majestic sacrifice.

For all the evil in the crucifixion, it brought about an infinite good. In fact, here was the most evil act ever perpetrated by sinful hearts: The sinless Son of God--holy God Himself in human flesh--was unjustly killed after being subjected to the most horrific tortures that could be devised by wicked minds. It was the evil of all evils, the worst deed human depravity could ever devise, and the most vile evil that has ever been committed. And yet from it came the greatest good of all time--the redemption of unnumbered souls.

The cross is therefore the ultimate proof of the utter sovereignty of God. His purposes are always fulfilled in spite of the evil intentions of sinners. God even works His righteousness through the evil acts of unrighteous agents. Far from making Him culpable for their evil, this demonstrates how all He does is good, and how He is able to work all things together for good (Romans 8:28)--even the most wicked deed the powers of evil have ever conspired to carry out."

Fwench Fwies- A Lesson in Sharing

From Mark Kielar of CrossTV

Recent Favorite- Defining Worship

by Jim McClarty of GCA

Martyn Lloyd-Jones Book Giveaway

Updated for winners!

If those in orange below could email your full address to reformedvoices@gmail.com, I will ship them out asap. Thanks for checking out Reformed Voices!

> numbers generated by this little online tool here


Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
Bradley Jones 27107


What is an Evangelical?
Zach S 21222


The All-Sufficient God
Mark 19014


Authority
Heath R 37415


The Basis of Christian Unity
Brandon Post 73130



Thanks once again to Charles and Mona Leiter of Lake Road Chapel for providing books for me to give away here. I will do a random drawing for each book on Thursday 3/19.

We'll cover shipping, no purchase necessary. Each item will have a different winner.

Some basic guidelines:

• U.S. residents only
• no 'anonymous' users
  
• reply to this post with your name and postal (zip) code
• indicate that you are interested in all of the 5 items or put the titles you would be most interested in (if you already own some of them)
• if you have a blog, feel free to leave a link to it
  
• check back in a week for a note in the Welcome! area at the top for a link to the winners

P.S. Believe it or not, in the past I have drawn winners that never responded back with their shipping address. If you don't plan to check back in a week to see if you've won, please don't reply to this offer, Thanks!

P.P.S. Some have replied without their name and zip code whom I have not let through. I ask for this info so that multiple people do not send me emails saying "I was the winner for book A, send it here" and I have to try to sort out who the real winner is. By asking for the name and zip, I can quickly match the one given in your reply with the one given in your email. If a name and zip is too much to give out, I understand... but that is how I have set this free giveaway up, sorry!



The Martyn Lloyd-Jones books-




Studies in the Sermon on the Mount




What is an Evangelical?




The All-Sufficient God




Authority




The Basis of Christian Unity

calvinisticcartoons.blogspot.com

Find more clever Reformed comics at calvinisticcartoons.blogspot.com

An Ally in the Heart

"You have an ally in the heart of every unregenerate human being and that it is the law of God written in the heart and a conscience that is activated to accuse or excuse them."
-John MacArthur

Marks of a False Convert

by Tony Miano

Break

Posts here may be infrequent over the next couple of weeks so be sure to check out some of the great blogs and other resources in the sidebar. I hope to be back in a couple of weeks as school and my other projects settle down.
-Philip

Jono's Journey In Grace