Book Preview: God is the Gospel by John Piper

"If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?"

That is a question for us all to consider and was asked by Piper in the introduction to this book. I loved it. It is so similar to J.C. Ryle's chapter "Christ is All" in his book Holiness. It's definitely something to think about and perhaps pray about. I'm afraid the answer to too many 'Christians' today would be yes. I'm afraid that too many pastors preach to their flock as if the answer was yes. I'm afraid that I live too many days of my life in which my answer may appear as a yes. This cannot be. And I hope this book, as I read it, will drive me to yearn for that deep fellowship that Christ so longs to have with me. And I have it for him, but I can't say I do each and every day, and that's where I want to change. If I don't read these books for the scripture and for the change, then what's the point?

Book Review: Holiness by J.C. Ryle

I'm going to try and start writing little blogs about the books I read. This is a good way to document what I learned and how the book impacted me.

I just recently finished Holiness by J.C. Ryle, written in the 1800s. I must start by saying that this book was exceptional and that I would recommend it to anyone of any denomination. It's possibly the best book (aside from the Bible) that I've ever read, and it's at least in the top 5.

Background: One must first understand that this book was written over a hundred years ago and that Ryle was a minister of the gospel in the Church of England. Ryle seemed to be very concerned with the current state of England and of the world in general, and perhaps that was his motivation for writing this book. I shudder to think of Ryle's reaction if he could see what England and America look like today.

Theme: This book is very challenging, charging the Christian to live a life of holiness. Ryle does an exceptional job in explaining some theologocial ideas such as sanctification, sin, growth, the fight, the cost, and assurance among others. He then uses Moses and Lot as fine examples of the things he talks about and finishes the book with a strong emphasis on Christ himself. The idea of the book to me as I read it was simple but hard at the same time: real Christians fight with sin every day and absolutely must strive to be holy and free from sin in order to live the life we are called to live...a lack of desire for holiness could indicate a lack of the Holy Spirit. The book instilled a strong spirit of perseverance in my heart, making me want to fight daily against the sins that plague me and persevere to the very end, not on my own strength but through the help of the Holy Spirit.

Remarkable correlation: God is amazing sometimes. In the past few months, most of my studying has been on the book of Hebrews, The Pilgrim's Progress, and Holiness among other things. The theme of the book of Hebrews is definitely perseverance and pressing on with the faith. The Pilgrim's Progress has a similar theme and references the book of Hebrews several times. Holiness used several passages from The Pilgrim's Progress in order to make a point. It was insane how well the three all fit together to teach me a hard lesson. And wait, it gets better. I started reading John Piper's God is the Gospel tonight, and the first book he referenced was Holiness. No joke. I am utterly amazed.

About This Blog

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Well, I labor. I'm weary. I'm heavy laden. I would like some rest. In fact, I need it. Who better to get it from than Christ himself? I don't believe the answer to getting rest lies in sleeping more or taking more naps or eating more fruits and vegetables -- while those things can surely help -- I tend to believe that true rest and definitely spiritual rest comes from God above through Jesus Christ.

If you found this blog, and you weren't invited, congratulations. That was hard to do. This site shouldn't be in the listings for blogger and shouldn't be linked anywhere either. If things work like I think they do, you should only be here if you typed in the address. There are no free private blogs available that I know of, so this is my attempt at a free semi-private blog. I'll post from time to time about things I read in the Bible or things concerning Christianity today or things in my life as a Christian. And perhaps I'll get some friends to do the same. Anything goes as long as God alone gets the glory.

I chose the picture you see in this post because it is a picture of the way I knew Jesus as a boy - a painting on a wall. I don't want my life to be like that. I want to know Jesus for who he really is, how he's revealed in the holy scriptures and how he reveals himself to me.