APJ: What Exactly Is Binding and Loosening In the Biblical Sense? Is It Relevant Today?

UPDATE: SUPREME COURT MAY CHANGE THE FUTURE OF ABORTION
 

ASK PASTOR JOHN and listen here @ Desiring God 

Spoiler alert:  It's not the answer you might expect.

Audio Transcript

QUESTION:

Jesus told us to bind and loose. But is this practice relevant for the church today? Pastor John joins us over Skype today to address this question from a listener named Joe. “Hello, Pastor John! Jesus told the disciples that whatever they would bind or loose on earth would be so in heaven. The church has the ‘keys of the kingdom of heaven,’ meaning, ‘Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven’ (Matthew 16:19). So what can a local church bind and loose? And what could I and a Christian friend bind and loose? Does this text have any relevant application to the church today?”

Yes — the answer is yes. It’s relevant. It is relevant for today. It’s always been relevant. In every age of the church, it’s relevant. And yes, Joe, if you are a true follower of Jesus, you and your friend, as a true follower of Jesus, can bind and loose in the way that Jesus means it here.

Core Discipleship

So let’s read it, make sure we get the whole context, and then I’ll try to explain what I think it means and how it’s relevant. I’m reading Matthew 16:15–19. Jesus says to his disciples,

“Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

So Jesus asked the disciples who they believe he is. He’s getting at the core issue of discipleship: the identity of Jesus Christ. Whatever else Jesus teaches, if they don’t get this right, they don’t get anything right. It will all be distorted if it’s not built on this central bedrock of Jesus’s teaching about who he is.

Peter answers correctly, “You are the Christ [the Messiah], the Son of the living God. You’re the Messiah — not just any ordinary human messiah, but the unique divine Son of God.” And then Jesus makes clear that Peter did not come up with this on his own: “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” In other words, this central, bedrock core of Jesus’s teaching — namely, his true reality — is a work of God in the mind of Peter, not a work of man. And therefore, he calls Peter blessed. “You’re blessed because God has given you this insight.”

Then Jesus makes a play on words, because Peter’s name, Petros, means rock or stone. So Jesus says, “You are Petros, and on this rock [petra], this bedrock” — they’re not the same words. I’ll come back to that. They’re almost the same. There’s a wordplay. “You are Petros, and on this petra” — “You are a rock, and on this bedrock I’ll build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”

Bedrock of the Church

Now, before we jump to the conclusion that Peter alone here is made the foundation of the church, notice three things.

1. Jesus did not say, “On you I will build my church,” which he very easily could have said. He said instead, “On this bedrock [petra] I will build my church.”

2. Even though Jesus says to Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven,” that very same thing Jesus says to Christians in general, with the very same words, two chapters later in Matthew 18:18: “Truly, I say to you [plural — not you, Peter, but you, plural, who are gathered in my name], whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” That’s the second observation.

3. Jesus does not say, “You are Petros, and on this petros I will build my church.” He says, “You are Petros, and on this petra I will build my church.” Petra has a different connotation than petros — it’s not a loose stone; it’s bedrock stone. Here’s what I mean: In Matthew 27:60, where it says that Jesus’s tomb was cut out of the petra, the bedrock, that doesn’t mean it was cut out of a loose stone — like, here’s a stone, it maybe weighs ten pounds, it’s found on the side of the road, and he cut a grave in that stone. Well, that doesn’t work.

What he means is the side of this mountain is stone. This is a massive bedrock where you’d build something, and so you carve into this bedrock. That’s the connotation of petra. It’s not a loose stone like petros. Petra is bedrock. The same word is used in Matthew 7:24: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock [petra]” — not a pile of stones, not gravel, but the bedrock ground in the side of the mountain that you dig down into till you’ve got a good foundation. The bedrock is solid and permanent; it’s the teachings of Jesus, which he says can never pass away.

“Take your stand on the bedrock of Jesus’s word, with the reality of Jesus himself at the center.”

So, my understanding, in view of those three observations, is that the bedrock on which the church is built is the bedrock of Jesus’s teachings, with the rock-solid core of his identity — “you are the Messiah; you are the Son of God” — at the center of those teachings. And since Peter is the one who made that confession in this case, he’s treated as the representative of all those who would faithfully lift up the teachings of Jesus and the word of Jesus with the true reality of who he is at the center or as the bedrock of the church.

Turn the Key of Heaven

So, it’s these teachings of Jesus that are the keys of the kingdom, when he says, “I’ll give you the keys of the kingdom.” Which means that when you speak, Peter — or according to Matthew 18:18, when any faithful Christian who speaks the words with the bedrock of Jesus’s identity at the center — when you speak those words faithfully, you are using the keys of the kingdom to open the kingdom in people’s lives.

Here’s a clue that I think confirms we’re on the right track, from Luke 11:52: “Woe to you lawyers!” Jesus said. “For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” This is the key of the kingdom, the key of knowledge: the key of the teachings of Jesus, with the reality of Jesus himself at the center. That knowledge, that faithful proclamation of the word of Christ, with Christ’s identity at the center, truly taught, opens the kingdom to people’s lives. That knowledge withheld or distorted closes the kingdom to people.

And when Jesus says, “Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven” — which is the right future perfect translation of the verb tense. When Jesus says, “Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven,” he means that in all of this human key-turning — turning of the keys of the knowledge of God — we are doing what God has decided should come to pass. Our teaching is essential; God’s will is decisive.
So, Joe, you and your friend, and I would say all faithful Christians, can take your stand — and you should take your stand — on the bedrock of Jesus’s word, with the reality of Jesus himself at the center, and speak it. And in so doing, you will turn the key of heaven in people’s lives and open the kingdom to them.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Coronavirus and Christ.

A Star Is Born In Randy Williams: Protester Single Handedly Negotiates Post-Curfew Truce With NYPD

THE BLACK COMMUNITY NEEDS MORE BLACK LEADERS, ROLE MODELS AND MENTORS WORKING IN THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES, INTERFACING WITH THE POLICE AND COURTS FOR TRUE AND LASTING CHANGE TO TAKE PLACE. IT WOULD BE A START. RANDY WILLIAMS IS SUCH A MAN. 
 

 By Georget Roberts @ NYPOST

Give this man, Randy Williams, a diplomatic job.

A savvy Brooklyn dad starred as a one-man negotiating team between hundreds of fellow protesters and a row of dozens of NYPD officers in Park Slope on Friday night — singlehandedly ending a tense, post-curfew standoff.

“They kept their men in check,” Randy Williams, 38, said after the remarkable detente he struck by approaching an NYPD captain as he and fellow protesters massed near Grand Army Plaza.

“For the first time in a very long time the police and the community came together,” Williams told The Post.

The father-of-four and the captain struck an agreement: the protesters would remain non-violent if the police did so as well.

And the captain, he said, agreed to let the protest continue past the 8 p.m. curfew, at least for a time.

“I told the captain a little after 8, we don’t want the same thing from the night before,” when police used batons to subdue protesters in the South Bronx who did not disperse after curfew, Williams said.

“I don’t want any of my people, meaning the protesters and people from this community, getting hurt the same way,” said Williams, a music producer.

“I don’t want none of his officers getting hurt. I told him we stayed in check, we stayed non-violent and last night he didn’t keep his officers in check.

“He made me a promise tonight that he would make sure that all of his officers were in check, and we would be allowed to protest peacefully past curfew.

He added, “I showed that we can trust the police.  Not all of them are bad."


“He wouldn’t let it go on all night, but he would allow us to have a decent amount of time.”

He added, “I explained to them that we appreciate them letting us go over the curfew and we appreciate them keeping their men in check and upholding their side of the bargain.

“I asked them to allow us to exit peacefully and unharmed and un-cuffed.”

The protesters used the extra time to sing “Happy Birthday” to Breonna Taylor, the black EMT accidentally shot dead by white officers in her home in Louisville, Kentucky in March.

Before protesters dispersed — peacefully, unharmed and uncuffed, as promised, at around 9:40 p.m. — Williams and a few of the other protesters shared parting fist bumps with half a dozen of the officers who 90 minutes earlier had lined up against them.

“Somebody at some point has to step up and be the bigger person,” Williams said before leaving.

“Because I see so many people get hurt, I wanted to be that man.”

 ******

Amen and Amen.  Indeed, Williams showed up and shined.  Hopefully this is just the beginning of his leadership and may many others follow in his footsteps.

May God bring  lasting good and His Glory out of all this.

Pentecost: Jesus Sends the Holy Spirit to Launch His Church To the Ends of the Earth

THE EARLY CHAPTERS OF ACTS @ THE BIBLE PROJECT ARE BELOW

Way to Go! Elon and NASA Lift Our Spirits Towards the Heavens and Space Again!

ROGER SIMON: LET ELON MUSK SHOW THE WAY, NOT THE RIOTERS
MAKING SPACE EXPLORATION GREAT AGAIN!  What a great accomplishment especially from the private sector.  Congratulations to Elon Musk, NASA and everyone who participated in today's sensational liftoff. We needed it after the past months and last few days.

Way to go!

Another Solid Joy: Test of Real Verses Phony Faith

PASTOR JOHN PIPER EXPLAINS HERE. 


Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:28)

Are you eagerly awaiting His return?  Do you pray that those you love to be saved in the meantime?  

ALSO,   The Payout For Patience.

Sunday Devotional With Pastor John Piper: Five Digital Dangers

FOR ME,  THE FIRST AND SECOND ONES  can be issues and temptations though I have drastically cut back on my online time these days.

LISTEN HERE

1) The hook of constant curiosity

Personal computers offer a never-ending possibility for discovery. Even the basic environment of Windows can consume hours and days and weeks of curious punching and experimenting. Color schemes, layouts, screen-savers, short-cuts, icons, file-managing, calculators, clocks, calendars, etc. Then there are the endless software applications consuming weeks of your time as they lure you into their intricacies. All this is very deceptive, giving the illusion of power and effectiveness, but leaving you with a feeling of emptiness and nervousness at the end of the day. RESOLUTION: I will strictly limit my experimental time in the computer and devote myself more to the truth than to technique.

2) The empty world of virtual (un)reality

How sad to see brilliant, creative people pouring hours and days of their lives into creating cities and armies and adventures that have no connection with reality. We have one life to live. All our powers are given to us by the REAL God for the REAL world leading to a REAL heaven and REAL hell. RESOLUTION: I will spend my constructive, creative energy not in the unreality of “virtual reality” but in the reality of the real world.

3) "Personal" relations with PC

Like no other invention, the personal computer comes closest to being like a person. You can play games with it. There are programs that will dialogue with you about your personality. It will talk to you. It will always be there for you. It is smarter than your dog. The great danger here is that we really become comfortable with this manageable electronic “person,” and gradually drift away from the unpredictable, frustrating, sometimes painful dealings with humans persons. RESOLUTION: I will not replace the risk of personal relationships with impersonal electronic safety.

4) The risk of tryst

“Tryst \‘trist\ noun: An agreement (as between lovers) to meet." Sexual affairs begin in private time together, extended conversation, and the sharing of soul. It can now be done in the absolute seclusion of your private email screen name. It can be immediate and “live,” or delayed and “recorded.” You can think that “it’s just nothing”—until she shows up in town. RESOLUTION: I will not cultivate a one-on-one relationship with a person of the opposite sex other than my spouse. If I am single I will not cultivate such a relationship with another person’s spouse.

5) PC Porn

More insidious that X-rated videos, we can now not only watch but join the perversity in the privacy of our own den. Interactive porn will allow you to “do it” or make them “do it” with your mouse. I have never seen it. Nor do I ever intend to. It kills the spirit. It drives God away. It depersonalizes women. It quenches prayer. It blanks out the Bible. It cheapens the soul. It destroys spiritual power. It defiles everything. RESOLUTION: I will never open any program for sexual stimulation nor purchase or download anything pornographic.
On the alert with you and Jesus,
John Piper

Ask Pastor John: What Is Grace, Really?

 IT'S A SOFTBALL QUESTION TO PASTOR JOHN, but it's still worth defining again.

Audio Transcript
What is grace? It seems like a simple question, but the answer has a lot of different angles to it. It is a recent email from a podcast listener named Heather. “Hello, Pastor John! I’m shy to ask this question because I’m embarrassed to admit that I struggle to understand one of the most commonly used words in the church today. That word is ‘grace.’ I often hear it defined as ‘unmerited favor’ or ‘getting what you don’t deserve.’ And I do understand it this way in the context of Ephesians 2:8 NKJV: ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.’
“But I don’t understand it in the context of texts like 2 Corinthians 12:9: ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Or 1 Corinthians 15:10: ‘But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.’ I don’t understand ‘grace’ in these verses. Can you explain it to me?”

Well, one of the reasons I love this question — and I know I say that a lot because I love what we do here. I love all these questions. Actually, some of them are too hard to love. But this one is a softball to me because those verses that she is troubled by are some of my favorites.

But here’s one of the reasons I love this question: it gives me a chance to say to Heather and to everybody that we’re all really in this together, and I don’t have any special advantage over you in answering these questions except maybe that I’ve had a little more practice. In other words, what I do when I hear a question like this is something Heather could do or anybody could do.

Putting the Pieces Together

I open my Bible and I get my concordance, and I look up all occurrences of grace in the Bible. There are 131 uses of grace in the ESV — 124 in the New Testament, 86 of which are from the apostle Paul, which means two-thirds of all the uses of the word grace in the Bible are in one author: Paul. No wonder he’s called “the apostle of grace.”

So, I say that to encourage Heather (not that she shouldn’t have written in; I’m glad to have the question) and everyone else that there’s nothing magical about holding an office in the church, like pastor, and there’s nothing magical about having a degree and doing scholarship in the academy. We all go about answering questions pretty much the same way. Look at all the Bible has to say, and then do your best to see how it all fits together, all the while being humble and submitting your mind to what the Bible teaches.

You are always bracketing your preconceptions and trying to build your conceptions out of all the pieces of the Bible. It’s like a puzzle, where you’re trying to put the picture together with all the pieces. And you know, because it’s God’s word, that these pieces are going to fit. If they don’t fit in this life, they’re going to fit in the next. But we work on it as much as we can.

Grace as Undeserved Favor

So, to answer her question, let’s just limit ourselves to Paul, whom she quoted, and to the two uses of grace that she saw. On the one hand, grace is called — and I think it’s an absolutely wonderful phrase — undeserved favor.

• Romans 3:24: “[We] are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Grace is what inclines God to give gifts that are free and undeserved by sinners.
• Romans 5:15: “If many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.” So, grace is that quality in God that produces free gifts for guilty sinners in salvation.
• Romans 11:5–6: “At the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” So, you can’t work to earn grace. It is free and undeserved.

Now, that’s what most of us have in our minds when we say God is a God of grace. And that’s true. It’s wonderful. Our eternal lives depend on it. None of us would be saved if grace were not undeserved favor, and were not a quality in the mind of God, in the heart of God, in the nature of God.

Grace as Power for Living

But then Heather rightly notices another group of passages, also in Paul, where he comes at grace a little differently.

• 2 Corinthians 9:8: “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” Now, that seems to picture grace as a power or an influence for obedience.
• 2 Corinthians 12:9: Jesus says to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
• 1 Corinthians 15:10: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder [that was the effect of grace] than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

In all three of those texts — and they’re not the only ones — grace is not only a disposition or a quality or an inclination in the nature of God, but is an influence or a force or a power or an acting of God that works in us to change our capacities for work and suffering and obedience.

Adjusting Our Categories

So, what I do when I see things like this in the Bible is to adjust my categories in my head. I won’t say, “Oh, well that can’t be, because I’ve got this category in my head.” No, no, no. You fix the categories in your head.

If once I thought of grace only as a character trait or a disposition or an inclination in the nature of God, which moved him to treat sinners better than they deserve — if that was my only conception, once upon a time — now, having seen all the texts, I broaden my understanding of grace as the Bible uses the term. Now I say, “Well, it appears that the word grace in Paul’s use not only refers to God’s character trait or disposition or inclination to treat people better than we deserve, but the word grace also refers to the action or the power or the influence or the force of this disposition, which produces real, practical outcomes in people’s lives, like being sufficient for good deeds or enduring the thorn in the flesh or working harder than everybody else, which Paul says about his own apostolic work.”

Now, that does not mean you have to give up that simple definition of undeserved favor. That’s true. That’s a good definition. It just means that the word also embraces the encouraging truth — at least I love the truth; that’s why these verses are so precious to me — that this favor overflows in powerful, practical helpfulness from God in your daily life where you most need it. That help is also called grace because it’s free and it’s undeserved.

Draw Near with Confidence

So, let me end with a precious verse that we all know and love and maybe have never thought about in this term of grace. Hebrews 4:16: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace.” That’s a throne with the quality and the character and the inclination to treat people better than they deserve. That’s the kind of throne we’re coming to. But then it says, “that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Or a more literal translation: “that we may find mercy and grace for a well-timed help.”

It is incredibly encouraging that God’s grace is both the inclination of the divine heart to treat us better than we deserve and is the extension of that inclination in practical help.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Coronavirus and Christ.

Ask Pastor John: How Can I Receive Christ? With Passages From Movie 'A Passage To India'

LISTEN TO PASTOR JOHN'S SHORT , PROFOUNDLY IMPORTANT TALK

Great Money Advice for New NFL Draftees and All of Us, If Only We'd Listen

By Kathleen Elkins

NFL PLAYER BRYON JONES has some blunt money advice for rookies: ‘Do not live a lavish lifestyle'

(I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE ADVICE LIKE THIS!)

The 2020 NFL draft took place virtually on Thursday night. The Cincinnati Bengals selected former LSU standout Joe Burrow with the first pick. The 23-year-old quarterback, who is among a select few to have won the Heisman Trophy and a national championship in the same season, celebrated from his home in Athens County, Ohio, with his family.

The Washington Redskins selected Ohio State’s Chase Young with the second overall pick. His teammate Jeff Okudah went next, to the Detroit Lions.
Burrow, Young, Okudah and the rest of the first-round picks are about to sign multi-million dollar contracts. Burrow’s deal may come with a $23.9 million signing bonus.

CURRENT NFL PLAYER BRYON JONES, who was drafted in the first round of the 2015 draft and now plays for the Miami Dolphins, took to Twitter to offer some money advice for the incoming rookies through a series of five tweets.

First of all, “do not spend your money,” writes the 27-year-old cornerback. “That number you see on your contract is fake. You will pay roughly 40% to 50% in taxes, agent fees, union dues, 401(k) account and necessary insurance."

He encourages them to think long term. As tempting as it may be, don’t live a lavish life right now. “Although your mom may deserve it, she does not need a $100,000 car,” Jones writes. “She does not need a $1,000,000 house.”

“It is not the time yet,” Jones continues. “If you protect your money early, you can live a comfortable life forever and provide for your family.”

Get educated about money, says Jones. Understand the power of compound interest and put your money to work.

You don’t have to figure it all out on your own, either, Jones says. He recommends they spend time to find a trustworthy advisor. “Interview a few and ask honest, hard questions before you make a decision.”

Jones closes with a final nugget of wisdom from his financially savvy peer,  Marshawn Lynch: “SAVE YO CHICKEN.”

Is the Christian's Heart Deceitful?

Greg Morse @ Desiring God---A MARRIAGE MADE IN HELL: How Satan Counsels Christian Couples.    Spoiler Alert: Not politically correct.

By Pastor John Piper,   Article and Audio

IS THE CHRISTIAN'S HEART DECEITFULLY WICKED? You’ve heard that “deceitfully wicked” phrase from the Old Testament, but is such an indictment applicable to the regenerated Christian heart? The question is from a podcast listener named Micah. “Pastor John, hello! I was recently in a debate with a friend over Jeremiah 17:9: ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?’ I applied it to the ongoing sin-blindness in the heart of the Christian. My friend said I was taking a passage about unbelieving hearts and misapplying it to the Christian heart. However, in returning to the bigger context of Jeremiah 17:5–13, I find myself even more convinced verse 9 is equally applicable to believers, especially in light of verses 7 and 8. What do you think? Is Jeremiah 17:9 about believers, unbelievers, or both?” Pastor John, how do you process this text and its context?
 
Let me walk quickly through the flow of thought from Jeremiah 17:1–9. And I think everybody will be able to see how verse 9 is functioning.

Blessing and a Curse

Jeremiah begins with an indictment of Judah and a warning of destruction. It says, “The sin of Judah is . . . engraved on the tablet of their heart . . . while their children remember their altars and their Asherim” (Jeremiah 17:1–2). Those are other gods. Idolatry is the issue here. “Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin” (Jeremiah 17:3). So, he’s going to bring judgment on them for the sin of their heart and the idolatry of their worship.

And then he says what’s beneath that. God says in Jeremiah 17:5–6, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come.” That’s the root problem of the idolatry and the sin. The root problem is that they are trusting in man, not in God.

And then he describes what alternatively ought to be: the opposite of this and the benefits that would come if it were the case. “Blessed is the man” — not cursed is the man who trusts in man — “who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7–8).

Every Heart an Idol Factory

Now, that leaves us with this question: If trusting in self results in such misery (no good shall come) and trusting in God results in such fruitfulness (you’re going to prosper), why in the world is a whole nation acting so suicidally in self-trust and sin and idolatry? And his answer is verse 9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” So, the human heart is diseased with sin and in the sway of deceit. And that’s why people act suicidally in preferring self-trust over God-trust.

So, the overall point of the passage seems to be that the root of sin and idolatry is a failure to trust in God rather than self. And the root of that failure is a deceitful and depraved heart. So, I think Jeremiah — indeed, I think all the biblical writers — would say that’s the root problem ever since the fall of man into sin and corruption. All human beings — no exceptions — are born with this kind of fallen, diseased, deceived, self-exalting, God-opposing heart.

What Happens in the New Birth?

So, the question is this: When a person experiences the new birth — becomes a Christian — what happens to that diseased, deceived, self-exalting, God-opposing heart? Here are some verses that describe what happens:

• Ezekiel 36:26 describes the new covenant like this: “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
• Romans 6:17: “Thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.”
• Acts 15:9: God “made no distinction between [Jew] and [Gentile], having cleansed their hearts by faith.”
• John 7:38 may be the most amazing of all: Jesus says, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Oh, amazing. Oh, I want to be like that, right? I just want to have a kind of new heart that doesn’t just enjoy water — it flows to other people. John 7:39: “Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive.”
• 1 Timothy 1:5: “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart.”
• 2 Corinthians 5:17: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”

Divine DNA Infused

So, my conclusion is that we can say that Jeremiah 17:9 (the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick) is true of the human heart — all of them. But where God is applying the blood-bought purchase of the new covenant, there is a new creation. Sins are forgiven. Holy Spirit is poured in. New nature is brought into being. That newness consists in the presence of the heart-influencing Holy Spirit and in the new nature. You might call it the divine-like DNA that is more and more being conformed to Christ.

 John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Coronavirus and Christ.

Richard Kew Devotional, Second Sunday of Easter

SERMON BY TIM KELLER: Hope in Times of Fear @ The Gospel Coalition

Sunday, April 19, 2020 John 20:19-31

ON THE EVENING of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld." Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe." Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.


Thought for the Day

 It is the evening of Easter Sunday when Jesus comes to his disciples in the Upper Room. The doors were locked but then there he was in the midst of them and the first thing to do is to show them his hands, feet, and side. By doing this he is saying, "Yes, this really is me - the man who died by crucifixion on Friday is the same man standing among you this evening. Perhaps their mouths were hanging open as realized he really had risen from the dead, something further emphasized a week later when the absent Thomas was given the same opportunity. Then he said to them, "Peace be with you." These words should not be separated from the act of showing his crucifixion wounds. What Jesus is saying is "God's peace is with you because of these wounds and the death that followed them. I truly died that you might be at peace with God, and I rose again to affirm that God's peace is with you. What does this mean? The peace of God, SHALOM in Hebrew, is talked about from early in the Old Testament to the end of the New Testament. In the OT the peace of God is often associated with the coming of the Messiah - and Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. The righteous, sinless Messiah had come and died and risen again so that his followers down through the centuries could know his grace through the Holy Spirit's presence. It is no accident that after this Jesus breathes on them he says, "Receive the Holy Spirit." Be made righteous before the Father by the risen Christ dwelling in you through the presence of the third person of the Trinity. It is not anything we do, neither is receiving the Holy Spirit a transaction of some kind - Shalom is given to us through Jesus who died and rose again. Jesus becomes our peace, our shalom, and we become his disciples, his sheep, through his death which was followed by his resurrection from the dead. The cross and resurrection are the start of the process of God reconciling all things to himself and restoring the world. His resurrection from the dead is a demonstration that Jesus is the Lord of all. Here's what the letter to the Hebrews says about all this: "Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." Ponder on these words in the light of our gospel reading. Thanksgiving for the Day We praise and give thanks to the God of grace who brought Jesus from the dead assuring us of his righteousness and peace.

Intercession for the  Day

Shalom is a word with a rich meaning and in this devotional we have barely scratched the surface of this. However, let us pray that God in Christ will show us what living in shalom means for our lives. We pray for Africa as it begins to experience the agony of Covid-19, and for their woefully inadequate medical systems as they seek to care for their people.

Collect for the Day

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Second Sunday in the Easter Season)

Tim Kelller: Hope in Times of Fear and the History of Human Progress and Secular Hope

A SERMON FOR OUR TIME OF PLAGUE

Source @ The Gospel Coalition

Just Released :Out of the Shadows

COMMENTARY Out of the Shadows

I'm With John Tamny: Plan to Open Economy By Choosing Adaptive Freedom

BY JOHN TAMNY @ RealClearMarkets

FOR FUN, let's assume a mass declaration of freedom on local, state and national levels. If so, how many readers will immediately revert to the “old way” of doing things, including close-talking, packed bars, sold out movie theaters, washing hands less than several times an hour, and biggest gasp of all, shaking hands?
Just the same, how many businesses wouldn’t change a thing if free to operate again? The ability to adapt to change is such a known driver of long-term commercial success in good times that it’s almost a cliché. Figure that the good businesses nowadays disrupt themselves (think Netflix taking out Blockbuster DVDs by mail, only for Netflix to erase its old model of success for streaming) with survival in mind, so is it unreasonable to suggest that, if free to operate, they wouldn’t oversee all manner of changes meant to please and lead consumers who’ve changed?

In his latest column, the Wall Street Journal’s excellent Holman Jenkins refers either sarcastically or critically to the “mythical ‘do nothing’ strategy” in response to the coronavirus, but it’s nice to imagine that he sarcastically means there’s literally no such thing as “do nothing.” There isn’t simply because humans have evolved as a species presumably because it’s in their DNA to do that which elongates their existence. And as evidenced by the copious savings that individuals and businesses are able to draw on in order to innovate, we humans are careful people. To varying degrees we save for the possibility of a “rainy day” without coercion, which is just more evidence that in a broad sense we the people get it. We don’t need a law to do what's in our interest.

To which some will key on the “in a broad sense” line to point out that not everyone is as wise as the Covid-obsessed are, which means everyone must endure draconian, economy and freedom-crushing rules so that the few who need handholding can get it. But that’s not serious. As is, all-too-many of us will not limit ourselves to the mood-altering substances that politicians 'allow' us to consume, some of us are only interested in surfing and skiing when conditions are most life-threatening, and some us can’t stand the thought of not hugging, shaking hands, or missing the excitement of a loud – and very packed – party, bar, stadium or arena.

Just the same, some businesses won’t change either. Frustrating as they are, some will never rid bathrooms of the hand dryers that are said to spread germs, some will never demand that their customers maintain distance from other customers, or demand that they wait outside altogether, and some will refuse to refuse customers even if it means people aren't SIX FEET APART.

What cannot be stressed enough is that if the goal is figuring out the best way to combat a virus with no known cure, those who don’t follow norms are as crucial producers of information that will enable cures as those who do. Precisely because they don’t follow the unwritten societal rules, their contracting of the virus (or not), their sickness (or not) from ignoring broad convention, and their death rates relative to the Covid-obsessed will hopefully give those searching for solutions exponentially more to work with
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What applies to individual decisions also applies to businesses. At this point they really don’t know what customers want, and will want in the future. Trite as it sounds, and is, we’ll hear a lot now and in the future about how “Covid-19 changed everything.” Absolutely. And because it will, or did, it’s essential that there be a “do nothing” approach from politicians given the certainty that free businesses will do all manner of things in order to win back customers either shell-shocked a little, a lot, or not at all by the past. Some will perhaps even give the finger to illiterate rules against “price gouging” such that they institute surge-pricing at their businesses as a way of controlling crowds via market signals.

Stating what should be obvious, the one-size-fits-all lockdowns imposed on Americans by politicians are blinding those same Americans to the information necessary to successfully beat an unknown. Freedom isn’t some feel-good, amorphous chant. It’s in fact pro-life and pro-growth simply because free people acting without forced limits show us through their successes and failures how to get by, and thrive, in life.
Looking at all of this nationally, President Trump said about New York Governor Andrew Cuomo that he’s been “calling daily, even hourly, begging for everything, most of which should have been the state’s responsibility…” Trump has a point, when he’s not making nonsensical claims about “absolute” power. “Do-nothing” on the state level is a myth too, and so long as we empower the federal government to oversee handouts, we needlessly install power centrally with those who think they have absolute power right at a time when cities and states should be innovating; their innovations including “doing nothing.” Lest we forget, Texas has a lower Covid death rate than California, even though it began its unfortunate lockdowns two weeks after the Golden State
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And while libertarians make compelling claims that states rule versus federal oversight in times like this, the simple truth is that local and state politicians have arrogated to themselves the power to take businesses and the right to work away from business owners and workers. Considering all this, do libertarians really believe the Constitution is wholly toothless against the local and state taking of so much property? Seeking an answer to this question, let’s at least have discussions, and hopefully lawsuits. Shouldn’t the Trump administration at least file lawsuits against cities and states who think so little of individual and property rights? We need more information right now, not less.

The biggest producer of information meant to beat the virus is freedom, including freedom from a government “plan to open the economy” that the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page is calling for. No. Plans just produce darkness. We need Jenkins’s “do nothing” so that we can see.

John Tamny is editor of RealClearMarkets, Vice President at FreedomWorks, and a senior economic adviser to Toreador Research and Trading (www.trtadvisors.com). His new book is titled They're Both Wrong: A Policy Guide for America's Frustrated Independent Thinkers. Other books by Tamny include The End of Work, about the exciting growth of jobs more and more of us love, Who Needs the Fed? and Popular Economics. He can be reached at jtamny@realclearmarkets.com.  

Andrew Latimer, Grace Church Greenwich---The Supernatural Resurrection: Jesus Shows Back Up

 LISTEN HERE


MATTHEW 28

1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. ² And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

³ His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
⁴ And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
⁵ And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
⁶ He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
⁷ And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.
⁸ And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.
⁹ And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.
¹⁰ Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.
¹¹ Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.
¹² And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,
¹³ Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.
¹⁴ And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.
¹⁵ So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
¹⁷ And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
¹⁸ And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

King James Version (KJV)

Montana Physician Discusses Covid-19 and Best Guess, Often Inaccurate Death Certificates

MUST SEE VIDEO GIVING PERSPECTIVE TO THIS CRAZY GLOBAL PANIC WE'RE LIVING THROUGH, thanks to My Bad Influence:
 
 Watch to the end and see how inaccurate and scary death certificates may and can contribute to medical and political fake news,  terrorism and loss of individual liberties. We need to be aware.

Sure,  there is a new virus which is contagious and scary and needs to be taken prudently and seriously..  But the numbers of people who actually die from it may v ery well be vastly over-inflated.   And even in this,  the deaths, inflated or not, are vastly lower than originally forecast.  

Psalm 22---Song of Jesus On the Cross, Starting in Agony and Abandonment, Ending In Praise

SERMON GRACE CHURCH GREENWICH  LONDON:  Andrew Latimer---Psalm 22, The Crucifixion

A SONG OF DAVID, Written 1,000 Years Before the Crucifixion of Christ

1 MY GOD, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? ² O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
³ But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
⁴ Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
⁵ They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
⁶ But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
⁷ All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
⁸ He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
⁹ But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.
¹⁰ I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.
¹¹ Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
¹² Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
¹³ They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
¹⁴ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
¹⁶ For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
¹⁷ I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
¹⁸ They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
¹⁹ But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
²⁰ Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
²¹ Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
²² I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
²³ Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
²⁴ For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
²⁵ My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
²⁶ The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
²⁷ All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
²⁸ For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations.
²⁹ All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
³⁰ A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
³¹ They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

King James Version (KJV)

New Bench Design For the Times

MERCI A MON FILS!

Holy Week, Pastor John Piper Re-Releases An Old Sermon Made At Angola Maximum Security Prison: Plan For Something Greater

AS CHRISTIANS OVER THE WORLD BEGIN HOLY WEEK WITH SUFFERING AND DEATH ALL AROUND,  PASTOR JOHN PIPER brings out an old sermon he preached at Angola Maximum Security Prison in 2009 to inmates on death row and lifers. It's for anyone who fears and faces death sooner or later---which is all of us.. This is a message of hope in the midst of hardened hearts, death and life sentences. These men are truly poor in spirit.  It's a sermon for Holy Week and Easter about why Jesus came to earth to suffer and die and be raised from the dead.  He now gives the free gift of eternal life to anyone who'll receive it:

Audio sermon  here.

Text and link:

The last chapter of life is not retirement. No, something greater is to come. We need to start planning for something far beyond the reach of our 401(k) plans. It’s a suitable word from John Piper to upper-class Americans, and to prisoners serving life sentences at Angola, the largest maximum-security prison in the US.

That’s the setting for today’s clip: Angola, a Louisiana maximum-security prison home to 6,300 inmates — “only murderers, rapists, armed robbers, and habitual felons. The average sentence is 88 years, with 3,200 people in one place serving life sentences. Ninety percent of the inmates will die here” (Decision Magazine, “Violence to Peace”).

John Piper traveled to Louisiana and preached in Angola’s chapel on November 19, 2009. About eight hundred prisoners packed in to hear a message on John 6, on Jesus’s feeding of the five thousand and his walk on water. “I preached with all my heart to those who could fit in the chapel,” Piper recounted later. “I pulled no punches.” Hundreds of other prisoners heard the sermon through closed-circuit television, including those on death row, like Gerald Bordelon, a convicted rapist and child murderer we met in episode 1445.
 
Piper pulled no punches. And the result is one of my all-time favorite sermons. Here’s a closing clip from that Angola sermon, and Pastor John’s final spoken pleas to Gerald. Have a listen.
 
Let me just say a word about John 6:27. It’s so important. The Father has set his seal on Jesus. I think that means God sent Jesus into the world. He ordained for Jesus to live a spotless life — no sin. He sent his Son to the cross to die for our sins. He raised him from the dead and vindicated that perfect work of substitution and redemption. He raised him to his right hand. He’s going to send him again. In that great redemptive work, by which our sins are covered and we’re clothed with Christ’s righteousness, God sealed his Son as the Son of Man and the only qualified Mediator between God and man who can give eternal life.

So, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, gives eternal life, because the Father said, “That’s who he is. That’s my Son. I sent him for that. He accomplished it perfectly.”

Labor of Faith

Secondly, John 6:27 says, in the second phrase there, “Work . . . for the food that endures to eternal life.” Labor for the food that endures to eternal life. That sounds terrible. Why does that sound terrible? You can’t labor for eternal life; it’s a gift!

Well, what does Jesus mean? When you read the Gospel of John, you bump into things like this all the time — Jesus seems to say the opposite of what he means. But he doesn’t leave you in doubt very long. You just keep reading. So let’s keep reading.

The answer is given in John 6:28–29. After he said, “Work . . . for the food that endures to eternal life,” the crowd responds: “Then they said to him, ‘What must we do, to be doing the works of God?’” (John 6:28).
In essence, the people are saying, “So you’re telling us to labor. Tell us what works to do.” This is classic salvation by works — false. They’re asking, “Okay, you said, ‘Labor for the food that endures to eternal life.’ We’re asking you, just like the rich young ruler when he came, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus now gives the answer in verse 29: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” He turned the table upside down. They were working and working and working to seek him, have him, because he was useful to them. To make a point, he says, “Don’t seek me that way. You want to seek me in labor for bread? Labor for the bread that endures to eternal life.” He hooks them with that, and they say, “Okay, what’s the labor?” And he says, “The labor is faith. The labor is stop laboring. The labor is stop working and trust me.”

It’s like, “I’m standing here as the bread of life.” This is Jesus talking. “I’m standing here as the bread of life freely offering myself to you. I’m going to lay down my flesh for the world.” Jesus says that later in verse 51. “I’m standing here as the bread of life. I’m standing here as gold, and silver, and treasure, everything you’ve ever needed. I am for you, and I’m free.” And they’re saying, “What do we have to do? What do we have to do? What’s the deed we have to do to have you

He would say, I think, “If I don’t look to you as a treasure” — are you listening, Gerald? “If I don’t look to you as a treasure, if you don’t see me as a treasure, no amount of work is going to make me precious to you.”

Next Stop: Heaven

Paul said, “I count everything as loss” (Philippians 3:8). Now, you guys have lost so much. You’ve got such a head start here, if God would just grip you with this. Paul says,

I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord . . . that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:8, 10–11)

Next stop after Angola: heaven — if he’s precious, if he’s precious beyond anything in this world that you’ve already had to lose. When you eat of the bread of life, you get eternal life — that is, a new chapter is added to your life. Angola is not the last chapter. It’s the next-to-last chapter. Eternity is the last chapter, and it lasts forever, and it is infinitely happy.

So many Americans work their fingers to the bone to have twenty years of so-called “retirement,” thinking retirement is the last chapter. It isn’t. It’s the next-to-last chapter. Too many of us have this little, puny, fragile hope that as an old, wrinkled, aching, aged person you’re going to go golf somewhere for twenty years or go fish somewhere for twenty years. But instead, you can have absolute certainty — all of us — of an everlasting cabin by the lake with Jesus, an everlasting ocean cruise with Jesus, an everlasting evening by the fire with a good book and Jesus.

Now, you men don’t dream that way like most Americans or even the people in my church, and that’s very good. I hope all that dreaming that you thought you might have one day shifts onto the last chapter. I’m going there real quick. Mary, in my church, will be there in two weeks maybe, and Gerald, you’ll be there soon too.

Fall in Love with Jesus

This life is very short, brothers, very short. It may seem long. It’s short. And eternity, it’s really long. It’s really long, and it’s really good — ten thousand times will you be rewarded for every kind deed you ever do, every act of faith that ever comes forth from you.
I think my closing admonition, brothers, is this: it’s free. Christ died in our place. He rose again from the dead. He lived a life of perfect righteousness. He stands freely available to everyone who will have him and stop working for him, and to everyone who will start eating the bread of heaven, and finding him to be more precious.

I said to Gerald this afternoon, who won’t live out next year probably, “What I would like you to do is to open your Bible, but not because reading your Bible saves you. We’re not into working here. Open your Bible to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and just get to know Jesus better every day, so that when you meet him, there won’t be too many surprises. Fall in love with him, Gerald. Fall in love with him now. You need to love him now, know him now, trust him now.”

And I would say that to all of you. I’d say it to me. My task on this planet is to eat the bread of heaven and be satisfied and overflow for others.

So moving. Pastor John promised to write follow-up letters, and he did, two sent in December 2009.
“O Gerald, I want to see you in heaven with Jesus,” Piper wrote. “I want to see his glorious grace magnified in your salvation. It does not depend on your merit. Or your worth. Or your good deeds. Or the quality of your piety. It depends on whether you see Jesus as what you need and want more than anything and freely receive him. It is possible, because of Jesus, that in the very moment you die at the warden’s side you will be in the presence of Jesus. But it is also possible that you will be in hell. The difference will not be whether you are guilty of sin and crime. The difference will be whether you received Jesus as your guilt-bearer. He suffered immensely as the Son of God so that your crimes could be wiped out. He lived a perfect life so that his perfection could be counted as yours. Be amazed at this. I love you and plead with you to turn to Jesus every day. Not just once. Turn to him every day. . . . I want to see you in heaven. It won’t be long till I get there. Affectionately, John Piper.”
In the next letter, Pastor John said, “You shed innocent blood. That’s true. And that is why God shed the infinitely precious innocent blood of his Son Jesus — so that you and I could be forgiven. Gerald, I love you and want to see you again with Jesus in heaven. Trust him. Trust him.”
Is Gerald in heaven or hell? It’s not clear. What we do know is seven weeks after Piper’s sermon, Bordelon was executed. On January 7, 2010, he was led into Angola’s lethal injection chamber wearing a white T-shirt and a gold cross necklace from his daughter. Witnesses say Bordelon’s eyes were red-rimmed from crying, as he haltingly said his final words: “I’d like to apologize to my family and tell them that I love them.” He was strapped down and IVs were inserted in his arms. Three drugs put him to sleep, stopped his breathing, and stopped his heart. All quickly. A moment later, Warden Cain said, “We now pronounce Gerald Bordelon dead. We’ve sent his soul for final judgment.” To this day, Bordelon remains the last prisoner to be executed in Louisiana.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Why I Love the Apostle Paul: 30 Reasons.