1 John 6:53
2 John 6:66–67
3 Luke 9:57–58
4 Luke 9:60
5 Luke 9:62
6 Luke 14:26
7 Luke 14:27
8 Luke 14:33
9 Mark 10:17
10 Mark 10:21
11 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995), 89.
12 Mark 10:21
13 Matthew 13:44
1 Sovereign Creator: Nehemiah 9:6; Psalm 24:1–2. Knows all things: Job 37:16; 1 John 3:20. Sustains all things: Psalms 36:6; 104:24–30. Owns all things: Deuteronomy 10:14. Holy: 1 Samuel 2:2. Righteous: Deuteronomy 32:4. Just in wrath: Romans 3:5–6. Loving: 1 John 4:16.
2 Habakkuk 1:13
3 Psalm 5:5
4 John 3:16, 36
5 John 8:34; 2 Timothy 2:26
6 Romans 5:10–12; 6:23; 8:10; Ephesians 2:1, 3; 5:14; James 4:4
7 Matthew 26:39; see also Psalm 75:8; Isaiah 51:22; Jeremiah 25:15; Revelation 14:10
8 Even John’s words about receiving Jesus (John 1:12–13) are misconstrued in our day to communicate a more casual approval of Christ instead of a wholehearted trust in Christ.
9 Matthew 7:21–23
10. Ephesians 2:8–9
1 James Truslow Adams, The Epic of America (Boston: Little, Brown, 1933), 415.
2 John 15:5
3 2 Corinthians 12:7–9
4 Joshua 6:3–5
5 Acts 1:14
6 Acts 4:13
7 Acts 5:12
8 George Muller, Answers to Prayer, comp. A. E. C. Brooks (Chicago: Moody, n.d.), 9–10, emphasis added.
9 Luke 11:11–13
10 Matthew 7:11
11 John 14:15–19, KJV
12 John 16:13
13 Spirit of wisdom: Ephesians 1:17. Spirit of power: Acts 1:8; 2 Timothy 1:7. Fruit of the Spirit: Galatians 5:22–23.
14 John 14:12–14
1 Genesis 1:26–27
2 Genesis 1:28
3 Genesis 12:2–3
4 Exodus 14:4
5 Daniel 3:28–29
6 Psalms 23:3; 67; Isaiah 43:1–13
7 Ezekiel 36:22–23
8 Matthew 28:18–20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47–49; also Acts 1:8
9 Revelation 7:9–10
1 John 17:4
2 John 17:6, 10, 12, 13, 19
3 Matthew 28:18–20
4 Romans 6:1–4
5 1 Corinthians 12:12–13; Ephesians 4:4–6
1 Proverbs 28:27; Isaiah 3:13–26; Jeremiah 5:26–29; Amos 2:6–7; 4:1–3; 8:3–10; Luke 6:24–26; James 5:1–6
2 Matthew 25:41
3 This particularly applies to our needy brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the emphasis of Christ in Matthew 25:31–36; the picture of the church in Acts 2:42–47 and 4:32–37; and the intent of Paul, James, and John in 2 Corinthians 8–9, James 2, and 1 John 3, respectively.
4 See especially James 2:14–26; 1 John 3:11–24.
5 Clearly, there are many differences between sexual sin and material sin. The point here is simply that we are tempted to sin in both our sexual lives and our material lives, and in both cases we need to repent. Regarding neglect as sin, see particularly James 4:17.
6 1 Timothy 6:17
7 2 Corinthians 8:9
8 Luke 16:25–26
9 Hears: Job 34:28. Feeds: Psalm 68:10. Satisfies: Psalm 22:26. Rescues: Psalm 35:10. Defends: Psalm 82:3. Raises up: 1 Samuel 2:8; Psalm 113:7. Secures justice: Psalm 140:12.
10 The rich man’s lack of faith in God is further evidenced at the end of this story, where Jesus asserts that the Pharisees had rejected both the Son of God and the Word of God.
11 Again, I want to be very cautious here not to imply that caring for the poor is the grounds or basis of our salvation. As we saw in the second chapter, the work of Christ on the cross is the basis of our salvation, and faith in him is the means by which God saves us. One fruit of our faith is concern for the poor (see James 2:14–19 and 1 John 3:16–18). So the people of God, when they study the truth of God’s Word and see the need around them in the world, will subsequently respond with the compassion of Christ.
12 Mark 10:23–24
13 Genesis 20:14–16; 26:12–15; 30:43; 47:27; Leviticus 26:3–5, 9–13; Deuteronomy 28:1–14
14 1 Kings 8:56–66
15 Mark 10:21—26
16 For an in-depth discussion of this assertion, see Craig L. Blomberg, Neither Poverty nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Material Possessions, ed. D. A. Carson (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1999). Blomberg writes, “The New Testament carried forward the major principles of the Old Testament and intertestamental Judaism with one conspicuous omission: never was material wealth promised as a guaranteed reward for either spiritual obedience or simple hard work.” He continues, “Material reward for piety never reappears in Jesus’ teaching, and is explicitly contradicted throughout” (pages 242, 145).
17 1 Corinthians 6:19
18 Mark 10:17, 21
19 Jesus teaches us that this kind of faith is possible only by the grace of God (Mark 10:27).
20 In Luke 12:33, Jesus reiterates the same command: “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.”
21 Robert H. Gundry, Matthew: A Commentary on His Handbook for a Mixed Church under Persecution, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 388.
22 Luke 14:33
23 Mark 10:17
24 Luke 12:32–33
25 1 Timothy 6:9
26 Charles Edward White, “Four Lessons on Money from One of the World’s Rchest Preachers,” Christian History 7, no. 19 (1998): 24.
27 2 Corinthians 8:14; 9:11
28 2 Corinthians 8:14
29 John Calvin, Commentary on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, trans. John Pringle (Grand Rapids: Baker Book, 2003), 1:297.
30 John Calvin, Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed., John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), 2:1098.
31 Calvin, Commentary on the Epistles, 1:297.
32 1 Timothy 6:18
33 2 Corinthians 8:2
34 Mark 10:28
35 James 1:27
36 Proverbs 6:6–8; 21:20; Luke 12:16–21; James 5:1–6
37 Mark 10:22
38 Matthew 6:21
1 Interestingly, Paul wrote the book of Romans to convince the Christians in that city to help him take the gospel to people who had never heard. Specifically, he wanted to go to Spain (Romans 15:24). His ambition was to “preach the gospel where Christ was not known” (verse 20), and the people of Spain had never heard of Christ. Moreover, I am indebted to R. C. Sproul for his brief excerpt on the destiny of the unevangelized in his Reason to Believe: A Response to Common Objections to Christianity (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982), 58–59. The thoughts I share here are the development of various truths he proposes there.
2 Romans 1:19—20
3 Romans 1:21
4 Romans 1:21
5 Romans 1:21–25
6 Romans 1:25
7 Romans 1:24, 26, 29–32
8 Romans 3:10–12
9 Romans 3:19
10 Romans 3:20
11 This is the case Paul builds when comparing Jews and Gentiles in Romans 2:12–16.
12 Romans 3:21–22
13 Romans 5:1
14 Romans 10:9–10
15 Romans 10:13–15
16 Acts 10
1 Matthew 10:39
2 Matthew 10:8
3 Matthew 10:16
4 Matthew 10:21
5 Matthew 10:22
6 Matthew 10:23
7 2 Timothy 3:12
8 Matthew 10:24–25
9 Luke 6:40
10 Philippians 1:29
11 Matthew 10:26, 28, 31
12 Matthew 10:29
13 Colossians 1:24
14 Acts 8:1, 4
15 Matthew 10:30–31
16 Matthew 10:28
17 Philippians 1:21
18 Revelation 12:11
19 John G. Paton, John G. Paton, D.D., Missionary to the New Hebrides: An Autobiography (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1891), 56.
20 Elisabeth Elliot, Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1979), 132.
21 Norman Grubb, C. T. Studd: Cricketer and Pioneer (Fort Washington, PA: CLC Publications, 2001), 120–21.
22 Hebrews 11:16
23 Erich Bridges, “Worldview: Remembering a Young Woman Who Followed God to the Desert,” Baptist Press, August 1, 2002, www.bpnews.net/printerfriendly.asp?ID=13951.
1 Matthew 9:36–38
2 2 Corinthians 4:4–6
3 Matthew 6:9–15; 2 Timothy 3:16–17
4 Matthew 6:19–21
5 Mark 10:29–30
6 Elisabeth Elliot, Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1979), 9–10.