Finally managed to type up some more thoughts from New Word Alive! A few disclaimers as I begin - I’ll apologise first for any mistakes I’ve made - this post is based on the notes I took during the talks, so sorry if I’ve missed things etc! As always - be biblically discerning (Acts 17:11). To try to give a fuller picture, I’ve linked to the MP3s of Piper’s talks, Adrian Warnock’s notes, and some of Tim Chester’s posts.

The theme for the evening celebrations was treasuring Christ. We enjoyed some clear, challenging Bible teaching from Romans 5, 8 and 12. It was a great time and the music was played well by Stuart Townend and Phatfish, the Gettys also made an appearance.

So without further a do, here are my notes…

Treasuring Christ and the Call to Grace
Terry Virgo on Romans 5:12-21

Terry Virgo spoke on the first evening from Romans 5:12-21. He highlighted verse 17 - how:

…those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ, Romans 5:17, (ESV), emphasis added

He explained from Romans 7:1-6, that as Christians we are no longer under the “law”. He said that Christian believers reign in life through the abundance of grace and free gift of Christ’s righteousness, who died on the cross as our substitute. We should not evaluate our standing before God, by our performance but remember that we are accepted by in the Beloved (c.f. Ephesians 1:6) - in Christ. It is in this way, by God’s grace in this amazing gift of Christ’s righteousness that we reign in life.

Adrian Warnock’s notes for the talk can be found about half way down this page and Tim Chester’s are also available here.

Treasuring Christ and the Call to Suffer Part 1
John Piper on Romans 8:1-25

For the second evening John Piper preached his first message on Romans 8:1-25 - a passionate plea to treasure Christ and a challenging call to suffer. As he introduced his talk Piper reminded us that Christ is not only the means of salvation but we must remember that Christ is also the end of salvation. That the word treasureis a verb and we should treasure Christ above everything (Matthew 13:44). Piper pointed us to Jesus’ prayer for believers to see His glory (John 17:24), and that the gospel is the “gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4, ESV). He said that when Christ is treasured in times of suffering, He is seen as most valuable.

Piper explained from the Bible the call to suffer - that (i) those who are justified will be glorified (Romans 8:30) and (ii) those who suffer will be glorified (Romans 8:17) and so therefore God will see those who suffer come through their sufferings like gold. Wow.

He identified that the argument flowing in Romans 8:1-17 explains as Christian believers we’re free from divine condemnation (v1), the evidenceof this is recieving the Spirit (v2) and the groundof this is Christ’s death on the cross (v3), that He was wounded for our iniquities, (i.e. His penal subsitiutionary atonement).

Piper then went on to explain that suffering is “worth it” (vv18-25) it’s not worth comparing to the glory that awaits. He highlighted that suffering is (i) universal: all of creation groans (v23), (ii) historical: it started as an historical event (vv20-21) and continues today (v18), (iii) judicial: God subjected creation to futility, He disordered and judged creation because of sin in hope (v20). The implications of this are that (a) the true meaning of misery is that our sin is horrific, and (b) the reason God subjected the world to futility is to teach us about our hearts, the horror of our sin, that we can see how ugly our sin is.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Romans 8:20-21, (ESV), emphasis added.

Therefore, we are not to conclude that “no condemnation” (v1) means no suffering (v23) but instead remember that ours are light and momentary troubles (2 Corinthians 4:17).

John Piper’s talk Treasuring Christ and the Call to Suffer, Part 1 is now available to download as free MP3 from Desiring God. Adrian Warnock has provided some notes here and Tim Chester has written up more here.

Treasuring Christ and the Call to Suffer Part 2
John Piper on Romans 8:16-39

On Wednesday evening Piper began his second talk on Romans 8:16-39 with three clarifications from the previous evening. (i) For the Christian believer suffering is not punishment but purification. (ii) In God’s judgement on sin He was doing more than responding to sin, it was part of His eternal design, ultimately to reveal His glory in Christ, in His grace and Christ’s death on the cross (Ephesians 1:5-6, Rev 13:8) . (iii) Christ purchased in His death (a) ultimate salvation from suffering and (b) the persevering faith of suffering followers and became their supremely satisfying treasure.

He then shared five promises to help us suffer well…

1. After this time of suffering we’ll see an all satisfying greatness (v18)
2. The children of God will see God in a way they can’t in their present condition (vv19, 21)
3. All the children of God and all of creation will be set free (v21)
4. The miseries of the universe are just the pains of childbirth (v22) (i.e. better things are coming)
5. We’re more than conquerors (vv33-37) - to kill death is to be a conqueror, to tell death to get up and serve us well is to be more than a conqueror.

John Piper’s second talk, Treasuring Christ and the Call to Suffer, Part 2 can also be downloaded as free MP3 from Desiring God. Adrian Warnock’s notes are available here and Tim Chester’s are here.

Treasuring Christ and the Call to Service
Hugh Palmer on Romans 12:1-8

The final evening talk was given on Thursday evening by Hugh Palmer on Romans 12:1-8. He highlighted from Romans 8-11 that Paul had an evangelist’s heart and that we need to have an evangelist’s heart loving our friends and family by explaining the gospel to them.

He then went on to explain the evangelist’s [i.e. Paul's] appeal in Romans 12:1-2, that having our hearts warmed by chapters 1-11, having been shown God’s love and gripped by His mercy (v1a) we need to offer our whole bodies, our whole lives to Christ and live for Him (v1b). Palmer explained that we shouldn’t let the world squeeze us into its mould, that we should live differently by thinking differently (v2). We need to be transformed and move out of the centre of our lives (v3). He explained that one of the ways we “belong” is to serve with the gifts we’ve been given (vv4-8).

He emphasised that we should be people defined by the gospel (vv3, 10, 16) and concluded by explaining that we needed to pray that our minds would be transformed as we read the Bible, that He would radically change us so that we live lives commending the gospel and we would offer our lives as living sacrifices.

Adrian Warnock’s notes can be found here.

Wow. Challenging stuff. A great encouragement to treasure Christ. (Finally, once again - sorry for any mistakes!)

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