Denny Johnson

JESUS! In Word and Song

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WEEK 49

THE NARROW GATE

 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few”(Matt 7:13-14 ESV).

One way to conclude whether our conversion-to-salvation experience is GOD-pleasing or not is to review our love for Him. Are our affections increasing or have they stopped now that we are satisfied we are Christians in good standing?

“The Scriptures everywhere represent the seeking, striving, and labour of a Christian, as being chiefly after his conversion, and his conversion as being but the beginning of his work.”1 “[M]any have all their striving and wrestling over before they are converted; and so having an easy time of it afterwards, to sit down and enjoy their sloth and indolence.”2

[T]hese false affections make him confident. [T]here are no more earnest longings. The man now is far from appearing to himself a poor empty creature. [H]e is rich and hardly conceives of anything more excellent than what he has already attained to. [T]here is an end to their crying and striving after God and grace.3

They have embraced “[c]heap grace that emphasizes emotional wholeness over spiritual maturity, self-esteem over self-denial, peace of mind over peace with God. It is a false gospel that presumes upon God to accept them on their terms and obligates him to reward them for their sincerity and good intentions.”4

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt 7:21 ESV).

So, our “spirit-check” is to ask ourselves if we are content with our interaction with GOD. True Christians are never content. They labor to cast out selfishness in order to please their heavenly FATHER—“Nothing short of the complete denying of self is what He claims from every one who would have communion with Himself.”5

The more a true saint loves God the more he hates sin, the more he desires to hate it, and laments that he has so much remaining love to it; the more he mourns for sin, the more he longs to mourn for sin; the more his heart is broke, the more he desires it should be broke: the more he thirsts and longs after God and holiness, the more he longs to long.6

“We are to come constantly to the Throne of Grace, that we may there find grace to help us repudiate and turn away with loathing from everything which is abhorred by God.”7

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ENDNOTES

(49) The Narrow Gate

            1. Jonathan Edwards, The Religious Affections (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 2004) 306.

            2. Edwards, 307.

            3. Edwards, 306.

            4. Denny Johnson, “Sermon on the Mount, Part B,” New Hope Church sermon notes, 14 November 2021: 7-8.

            5. Arthur W. Pink, “The Narrow Way,” Studies in the Scriptures XI (January 1932) : 22.

            6. Jonathan Edwards, The Religious Affections (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 2004) 303.

            7. Arthur W. Pink, “The Narrow Way,” Studies in the Scriptures XI (January 1932) : 24.

            8. Denny Johnson, “Sermon on the Mount, Part B,” New Hope Church sermon notes, 14 November 2021: 7-8.

            9. Johnson, 3.

            10. “Draw me after you; let us run” (Song of Solomon 1:4 ESV).

            11. “Behold, you are beautiful, my love” (Song of Solomon 1:15 ESV).

            12. “We will exult and rejoice in you” (Song of Solomon 1:4 ESV).

            13. “[W]e will extol your love more than wine” (Song of Solomon 1:4 ESV).

JESUS! In Word and Song

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WEEK 47

THIS JESUS—

WHAT HE DID FOR ME_1

“Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God” (1 Pet 1:19-21 ESV).

“CHRIST indeed finds His people entirely destitute of holiness and of every desire after it, but He does not leave them in that state. He produces in them a sincere love to God and a real pleasure in His ways.”1

JESUS delivered me out of this present evil age (Gal 1:4). He became to me wisdom from GOD (1 Cor 1:30). 

A Christian finds that there is enough in Christ to make him holy, that, in simply taking his sins to Jesus, they are pardoned; in taking his strong infirmities, they are subdued; in taking his wants, they are supplied. In a word, he finds Christ to be his ‘wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.’2

He is my sanctification and redemption (1 Cor 1:30). Through Him I am filled with the fruit of righteousness (Phil 1:11). In CHRIST I have been made complete (Col 2:10).

JESUS has been appointed for me (Acts 3:20). He suffered for me (1 Pet 2:21). He forgives all my trespasses (Col 2:13) and cancels my certificate of death (Col 2:14).

JESUS suffered that He might bring me to GOD (1 Pet 3:18). I am reconciled through His fleshly body through death. He presents me before GOD blameless and above reproach (Col 1:22). Salvation is not found in anyone else; in no other name but JESUS can I be saved (Acts 4:12).

I have been raised with CHRIST (Col 3:1). GOD makes me alive together with Him (Col 2:13). I have died and my life is hidden with CHRIST in GOD (Col 3:3).

Eternal life is the life of Jesus in us. He who has the son, has the life. And Jesus himself has promised, ‘I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you.’ He imparts his life to us through the Holy Spirit as an act of his sovereign grace when he miraculously regenerates us, cleanses us from all sin, gives us a new heart and a new spirit and causes us to be born again.3

He is in me (Col 1:27); it is no longer I who live but CHRIST lives in me (Gal 2:20). CHRIST is my life (Col 3:4). He will sustain me to the end, guiltless (1 Cor 1:8). And I will be revealed with Him in glory (Col 3:4). 

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ENDNOTES

(47) This JESUS, Has Made Me Alive

  1. Abraham Booth, “The Motive of Sanctification,” Free Grace Broadcaster 215 (2011) : 30.
  2. Octavius Winslow, “Christ and Sanctification,” Free Grace Broadcaster 215 (2011) : 17.

            3. Denny Johnson, “Going On to Maturity,” NHC sermon notes, 11 July 2021: 7.

            4. “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him,”(Colossians 2:13 ESV).

            5. “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3 ESV).

            6. Colossians 3:3.

            7. “ . . . that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,” (Acts 3:20 ESV).

            8. “ . . . wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10 ESV).

            9. “And you . . .God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,” (Colossians 2:13 ESV).

            10. “by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14 ESV).

            11. “  . . Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father . . .” (Romans 6:4 ESV).

            12. “. . . Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2 ESV).

            13. “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved’” (Acts 4:12 ESV).

            14. “he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,” (Colossians 1:22 ESV).

            15. “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,” (1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV).

            16. “and you have been filled in him . . .” (Colossians 2:10 ESV).

            17. “ . . . the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (Galatians 1:3-5 ESV).

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PUTTING ON THE NEW SELF

“We will take everything that happens as happening to Him, whether it be praise or blame, persecution or commendation” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, Feb 4th).

“Do we not become members of the body of the divine person of Christ? Yes, the same blood that flows in the head flows in the hand, and the same life that quickens Christ quickens His people, for ‘Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God’ (Col 3:3). As if this were not enough, we are married to Christ. He has betrothed us unto Himself in righteousness and in faithfulness, and he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, Sept 16th AM).

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Pet 1:3-4 ESV).

“To live a holy life is to live a life in conformity to the moral precepts of the Bible and in contrast to the sinful ways of the world. It is to live a life characterized by the ‘[putting] off of your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires and [putting] on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness’ (Ephesians 4:22, 24)” Jerry Bridges (ref#244, p16).

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Rom 12:1 ESV).

By calling it a living sacrifice we are to be continually sacrificed to the Lord so that our former life will be destroyed in us. [O]ur work is pleasing and acceptable to God when we devote ourselves to purity and holiness” John Calvin (ref#164, Aug 6th).

“But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God’s love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life” (Jude 1:20-21 MSG)!

“[What] pleases him is not our work for him but our need of him” John Piper (ref#220, p215-216).

“The good news of salvation is that as believers in Jesus Christ, and by God’s grace, we are no longer sinners in Adam, we are now righteous in Christ” Denny Johnson (ref#385).

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GOD SENT JESUS

“I am the LORD your GOD. [Y]ou know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior” (Hosea 13:4 ESV).

“Thus says, the LORD who made the earth, who formed it to establish it—the LORD is his name: call to me and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known” (Jer 33:2-3 ESV).

“God called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,” (2 Tim 1:8-10).

“Then they said to him, ‘What must we do, to be doing the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (John 6:28-29 ESV).

“Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt 16:24-25 ESV).

“If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also” (John 12:26 EVS).

“Now may the God of peace 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” (Heb 13:20-21 ESV).

“We believe that due to their fallen condition people are born spiritually dead, eternally lost and totally unable to deliver themselves from their present state of condemnation” Denny Johnson (ref#385).

 “Men and women need to be delivered from the punishment of their sin. But they also need to be delivered out of this kingdom of the devil, out of the kingdom of Satan; and they need to be translated into the kingdom of God. Christ came into this world in order to conquer Satan and his kingdom and in order to introduce His own kingdom” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (ref#211, p62).

“Eternal life is the life of Jesus in us. He who has the son, has the life. And Jesus himself has promised, ‘I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you.’ He imparts his life to us through the Holy Spirit as an act of his sovereign grace when he miraculously regenerates us, cleanses us from all sin, gives us a new heart and a new spirit and causes us to be born again” Denny Johnson (ref#386).