December 22, 2016 Show with Dr. Stephen Yuille on “Longing for Home: A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent” AND “A Hope Deferred: Adoption & the Fatherhood of God”

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Live from the historic parsonage of 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

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Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron, a radio platform on which pastors,

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Christian scholars and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

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Proverbs 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.

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Matthew Henry said that in this passage, quote, we are cautioned to take heed whom we converse with and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

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It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next hour and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

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Now here's our host Chris Arntzen. Good afternoon

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Cumberland County, Pennsylvania and the rest of humanity living on the planet earth who are listening via live streaming.

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This is Chris Arntzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron wishing you all a happy Thursday. On this 22nd of December 2016, just three days away from Christmas and I hope that you all are already enjoying the season and that a lot of love and warmth and praising of our

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Lord and Savior awaits you in the days ahead. Of course we want that every day of our lives but especially during this time of year when you may be seeing folks from your families, folks that you love that you have not seen for quite a long time,

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I pray that these are going to be memorable days ahead for you in a good way, memorable days that you can cherish to remember and reflect upon for the rest of your lives.

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And today I also want to remind you that coming up in January, just a few weeks away, we've got two major events going on as many of you already know.

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The Iron Sharpens Iron Pastors Luncheon is going to be held on Thursday January 12th 11 a .m

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to 2 p .m at the historic Carlisle Vault which is a historic bank going back to the early 20th century that was transformed into a gorgeous catering hall.

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This is an absolutely free event for men in ministry leadership, whether you're a pastor, elder, deacon or whether you run a parachurch organization or something like that.

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We invite you free of charge if you are among the first 100 men to respond and we cannot accommodate the wives so this is a men's only luncheon so we would look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at this event.

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Our guest speaker at this luncheon is Dr. Tony Costa, professor of apologetics at Toronto Baptist Seminary and you're going to have a gorgeous sumptuous gourmet meal.

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You are going to get a free sack of books, brand new books donated from Christian publishers all over the

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United States and the UK including Shepherd Press has always supplied us with books during these occasions, the publishers of the books we're discussing today and all kinds of wonderful things that you are going to leave with free of charge.

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There is never anything for sale at my pastors luncheons so it's going to be a wonderful time and of course a powerful message from Dr.

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Tony Costa. The following night, Friday the 13th at 7 p .m at the

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Carlisle Theatre, another historic building here in Carlisle that goes back to the early 20th century, a really gorgeous theater that has been restored to its original grandeur and beauty.

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There is going to be a debate there between Dr. Tony Costa who I already mentioned from Toronto Baptist Seminary and Roman Catholic apologist

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Robert St. Genes, the founder of Catholic Apologetics International.

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They are debating on the theme, Mary Sinless Queen of Heaven or Sinner Saved by Grace.

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That's Friday the 13th of January, 7 p .m at the Carlisle Theatre. Tickets for this event are $5 per ticket unlike the previous event

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I mentioned which is free. This event requires a ticket purchase of $5. This is just to cover the cost of flying out

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Dr. Tony Costa and providing honorariums for both men and providing for all of the other expenses that go along with these events.

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If you'd like more information about either of these events, I'm giving you a different email address than I normally do because Google has once again disabled my gmail account for sending out too many emails.

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So please use either chrisarnson at comcast .net chrisarnson at comcast .net

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or you can email me at ironsharpensironradio at gmail .com

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ironsharpensironradio at gmail .com and that is or those are the email addresses you can also use today if you have a question for our guest.

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Don't use the email address that you normally give out. Use chrisarnson at comcast .net

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chrisarnson at comcast .net

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or ironsharpensironradio at gmail .com if you have any questions and that leads us to our guest today who we have on the program for the very first time

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Dr. Steven Yule. He is an author and a teaching pastor and elder at Grace Community Church in Glen Rose, Texas and we are discussing two of his books today.

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The first hour we are going to be addressing Longing for Home A Journey Through the

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Psalms of Ascent. The second hour we're going to be addressing his book A Hope Deferred Adoption in the

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Fatherhood of God and as I said if you'd like to join us with a question our email addresses are chrisarnson at comcast .net

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or ironsharpensironradio at gmail .com but it's my honor and privilege to welcome you to Ironsharpensiron for the very first time ever

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Dr. Steven Yule. Yeah good afternoon thank you good to be with you. It's great to have you

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Dr. Yule and before we even go into the subjects at hand if you could please give us a bit about your personal upbringing the religion of your youth if any or the religion of your household if any and how you came to know

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Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior what providential things the Lord brought about in your life to lead you to himself.

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Certainly certainly I thank the Lord I was I was raised in a in a

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Christian home and so exposed to the gospel at a very at a very young age and had the gospel mirrored for me in my in my parents and in the lives of others related to the church and so I was brought to saving faith at a at a very young age five years of age and at that time

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I lived in in Markham Ontario so born and raised near Toronto and involved pretty much in the the church of my of my boyhood right through to my early 20s and then met my wife

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Allison and spent a few years as as missionaries in Portugal and then a time pastoring in Ontario and most recently well for the past eight years pastoring

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Grace Community Church in England Rose Texas. And when did you realize that God was placing a call upon your life to become a pastor?

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That's a good question from my early 20s um

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I wanted to be a missionary and um was burdened in that area and as I mentioned in my wife and I went went to Portugal as missionaries for for about five years and then returned to Ontario and I got involved in itinerant preaching and some lecturing and then during that time really then received a call into full -time pastoral ministry so that would have been what would the year have been 2000 and oh 15 20 years ago now anyway it's all a blur.

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Well uh tell us something about Grace Community Church of Glen Rose Texas where you are now mm -hmm um

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Southern Baptist Church uh founder friendly founders friendly church and uh we're in a a rural community uh maybe 50 miles south of Fort Worth so if your listeners can picture

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Fort Worth on the map and draw a line directly south you'll you'll meet her you'll meet her little community of of Glen Rose and we've got a wonderful group of believers here and some service and wonderful men on staff and fellow elders and they're certainly thankful for what the

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Lord is is doing in our midst. I should also mention I'm not only pastor here at Grace I'm also associate professor at Southern in Louisville so I'm I'm involved in um associate professor of biblical spirituality at Southern seminary so that takes me out there four to six weeks of the year.

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I'm involved in the PhD program which is is a modular program so I travel out there to give lectures and seminars over the course of the year so between pastoring here in Glen Rose Texas and lecturing there at Southern in Louisville that uh those are the main folk

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I have my ministry presently. Great well I have interviewed a number of folks from uh the

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Southern Baptist Seminary of Louisville including Dr. Moeller uh the president Al Moeller and uh someone who's retired from the faculty there but who had has been a guest on Iron Sharpens Iron a number of times

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Dr. Tom Nettles who's a real fountain of historical information uh really love having

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Dr. Nettles on the program. Well we are as I said addressing your two of your books today the first we are talking about is

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Longing for Home A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent and what if you could tell us were the things the providential things going on in your life that really drew you to want to write this book?

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Uh the book the book actually came out of a sermon series and so I preached through the

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Psalms of Ascent here at uh here at Grace Community Church some years ago and the

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Lord used them in my own life and perceived also how he used them to benefit the lives of others and so thought it would be profitable to take those sermons and edit them and put them in a book form and make them available to uh to believers beyond the confines of the church where I where I serve.

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What what led me to the Psalms of Ascent at that juncture really in terms of pulpit ministry here at Grace was just the increasing awareness of um you know

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Calvin's John Calvin's conviction that in the Psalms we have you know an expression of every feeling every impulse of the soul we we have the soul mirrored in the book of Psalms so there's something very experiential there as we can relate with the psalmist's struggles um with his joys his griefs and um

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I think when the text is expounded we can really enter into it and build a bridge into our own day our own lives and there is much there for edification so that's what really led me into them to preach through them and then flowing from that just my own conviction as to how how useful they are um deciding then to put it into a book form.

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And perhaps it'd be a good place to start with a definition of the

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Psalms of Ascent specifically. Well that one's up for debate uh we call them

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Psalms of Ascent um no one's really sure what is meant by Ascent if it is a some sort of musical term or if it is a reference to the children of Israel ascending to Jerusalem to worship at one of their annual feasts but we're essentially referring to Psalms 120 through to 134 so 15 of those

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Psalms. All right well I want to read a wonderful endorsement that you have received for this book from your colleague at the

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Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Don Whitney, Associate Dean.

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There is a psalm for every experience in life for every sigh of the soul no other section of the book of Psalms demonstrates those deep emotions better than Psalm 120 to 134 known as the

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Psalms of Ascent. In longing for home readers accompany Stephen Yule on a journey through his through this collection of psalms and find themselves nodding deeply in agreement as their guide shows how these ancient texts put into expression the sighs of believers in Christ who are longing for their earthly home.

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Very a powerful endorsement by a Don Whitney and we look forward to trying to get Don on the program as well sometime.

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This is obviously an indication that Christians one of the first things they should do not only on their knees in prayer and also cries for help to close brothers and sisters in Christ who will be able to respond to them in a biblical and God -honoring fashion but one of the first things that our brethren should do when they are faced with a crisis when they are faced with unexpected perhaps misery or perhaps misery and depression and sadness that they've been coping with for years they should be delving deep into the word of God because it's his inerrant word that really has the ultimate answers for everything that we face, is it not?

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Yeah I think you're correct. I allude to that somewhere in the book that I think in the introduction that when we face problems of one kind or another in life our knee -jerk response is usually to look somewhere for help either turn to a friend or perhaps a pastor or perhaps some sort of counseling of one kind or another and I'm not diminishing any of those things but it is extremely important that to remember that God has given us his word and there are certainly portions of that word that speak into every imaginable every conceivable circumstance of life and I think the book of Psalms are a case in point that there is nothing we can go through or experience for which we do not find a psalm or at least a section of a psalm that speaks to it and that God will use does use to strengthen his people and to enable them to persevere through whatever comes their way.

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We have a listener C .J. from Lyndonhurst, Long Island, New York who wants to say isn't it true that one of the key elements missing from much of contemporary

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Christian music is the depth and the diversity of the

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Psalms which not only feature words of praise and exuberant joy but also the depths of despair and sadness and sorrow for which they cry out to the

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Lord for help. It seems that the much of modern day Christian music is a one string banjo whereas the

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Psalms are full and rich. Do you not agree that Christians should incorporate the Psalms much more frequently in their worship?

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Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. I don't fall into the camp of Psalms only but I certainly think that in our contemporary trend away from the

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Psalms in terms of corporate worship we have cut ourselves off from something that is invaluable and something that God has designed for us and C .J.

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is quite right that in the Psalms we have expressed things we just we rarely find,

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I wouldn't say never find, but rarely find in much contemporary music. There are issues addressed, themes raised, motifs probed, and even emotions that expressed that are noticeably absent in not all but in much contemporary worship and I think many people are beginning to sense it.

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I think they are increasingly aware of it that something is missing and I think the missing element is found in the

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Psalms. Well thank you C .J. and guess what? You have won a free copy of Longing for Home, a journey through the

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Psalms of Ascent and that's compliments of our friends at Shepard Press and that will be shipped out to you compliments of our friends at Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service cvbbs .com

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that's cv for Cumberland Valley bbs for Bible Book Service dot com and we thank

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Todd and Patty Jennings the owners of Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service for being faithful supporters of Iron Sharpens Iron.

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What do you discuss in the initial chapter of this book that we are addressing today?

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Pursuing Peace, tell us something specifically about that. Yeah, Pursuing Peace is based on Psalm 120 in which the psalmist expresses his grief, his sorrow over,

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I mean to put it mildly, strained relationships. It's a little more severe than that. I mean he is the object of severe opposition, persecution and so I glean from that something of the psalmist's own distress and then his prayer and how that can shape our approach to similar situations, similar circumstances that as we go through life we do experience strained relationships and at times it's far more serious than that and so the question of how do we face these things, how do we honor

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Christ in the midst of them. So I glean from the psalmist's example as to what it means to pursue peace in all circumstances and you know you really get the

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Old Testament example of that and what it means to apply Paul's admonition to repay no one for evil, you know if possible so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all and we see that played out in the psalmist's own experience.

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So try to build a bridge there from his experience to our own and trace it certainly then through the cross of Christ and look at how

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Christ himself confronted that kind of opposition, endured during that kind of opposition.

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And following that you have your deal with seeking help in the second chapter. And you know there we don't know the exact, the thing with the

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Psalms of Ascent other than I think two or three of them if memory serves me correctly, we don't know the precise circumstances that give rise to the

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Psalms. Perhaps the Holy Spirit intended that that way that we could read the Psalms, exegete them, understand them and immediately make application to our own context but we don't know the specific historical events or circumstances surrounding a lot of them and Psalm 121 is a case in point.

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All we know is that the psalmist is in distress, I lift my eyes to the hills from where does my help come?

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And so it's just a celebration then of how God is his help in whatever condition, whatever circumstance he passes through in life.

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And so again just drawing the line from that psalm to our own day and taking hold of what the psalmist celebrates that you know

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God is our helper. He's the maker of heaven and earth. He's the one who keeps his people in all places, in all conditions, at all seasons.

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And so what that means in our own journey home. We have

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Arnie in Perry County, Pennsylvania who has a two -fold question.

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He says, I know that David did not write all of the Psalms but is it true that he compiled all of them that are present in the canon?

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And he follows up that question with do we know whether or not for certain that any of the psalmists who are unnamed were in fact women?

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Okay so the first one has to do with the compilation of the

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Psalms? Yes he was asking if David although he did not write all of the Psalms he wrote some of them when they're identified as him being the author.

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He was wondering if he is the one that compiled them all that we all the ones that we have in the canon, the

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Old Testament canon. Oh no I think David, I'm trying to remember here,

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David maybe half of the Psalms. We have

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Solomon writing a number of the Psalms. Asaph is another author that's identified.

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Oh that's what his question was though he said that he knew that David didn't write all of them but did he is he the the one that that selected those that are in our canon in the

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Old Testament canon? In other words did he select those that are written by Solomon and other people? No he would have been long dead.

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Okay. Because a number of them are written generations after David and so we you know there are some hints as you read through the book of Psalms that basically you have

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I think it's five books major books within the book of Psalms so even if you turn to Psalm 1 verse 1

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I think it says there above the title book 1 and there are other indications that there are actually five books five compilations and I remember again going from memory

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I mean book 1 compiled I think all the Psalms are written by David and Solomon so it was likely compiled by the by the death of Solomon.

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Books 2 and 3 are later and compilation seems to have taken place during the reigns of well one of the later kings probably

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Hezekiah or Josiah and then books 4 and 5 some of those psalms seem to be later during the reign of Ezra and Nehemiah so they seem to have three major time periods over the span of maybe what would that be a couple hundred years when the major books of the

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Psalms come together all of them inspired but obviously written at different times and then added at different junctures into what you know our 150 psalms that we have today and his follow -up question

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Arnie in Perry County's follow -up question was do you know whether or not any of the psalmists were women and none that I know of there are some psalms that you know we don't know who wrote them but any of the ones where the author is indicated no they're all men but I but assuming you would not you would not totally dismiss the idea that it is possible that some of the psalms were written by women oh it is possible and I mean you go outside the book of psalms and then we have

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Hannah's song which is a Hannah's psalm right right back in the book of Samuel so there's there's a case in point of a song a psalm belonging to a woman so I suppose it is entirely possible some of the ones in the book of psalms for whom we don't have an author attached that it's within the realm of possibility yep well thank you uh

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Arnie and guess what you have also won a free copy of Longing for Home a journey through the

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Psalms of Ascent by our guest J. Stephen Yule and compliments of Shepherd Press and Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service will be shipping that out to you we need your full mailing address there in Perry County Pennsylvania so please give us all the information that we need to ship that out to you and Merry Christmas to you

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Arnie and thank you very much for participating in the program we're going to a break right now if anybody would like to join us on the air with a question of your own remember we're using different email addresses today because of our gmail account well at least our major gmail account has been temporarily temporarily disabled for over outgoing email use or going over quota but uh our email addresses that you could use today are chrisarnsen at comcast .net

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c -h -r -i -s -a -r -n -z -e -n at comcast .net and also ironsharpensironradio at gmail .com

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ironsharpensironradio at gmail .com don't go away we will be right back after these messages with J.

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Stephen Yule and Longing for Home a journey through the Psalms of Ascent. Chris Arnzen here and I can't wait to head down to Atlanta Georgia and here's my friend

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Dr. James White to tell you why. Hi I'm James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries. I hope you join me at the

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G3 conference hosted by Pastor Josh Bice and Praise Mill Baptist Church at the

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Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta January 19th through the 21st in celebration of the 500th anniversary of the

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Protestant Reformation. I'll be joined by Paul Washer, Steve Lawson, D .A. Carson, Vody Balcom, Conrad Mbewe, Phil Johnson, Rosaria Butterfield, Todd Friel and a host of other speakers who are dedicated to the pillars of what

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G3 stands for gospel grace and glory. For more details go to g3conference .com

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that's g3conference .com. Thanks James. Make sure you greet me at the ironsharpensiron exhibit booth while you're there.

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forward slash iron sharpens today thriving financial is not your typical financial services provider as a membership organization we help christians be wise with money and live generously every day and for the fourth year in a row we were named one of the world's most ethical companies by the ethosphere institute a leading international think tank dedicated to the creation advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics contact me mike gallagher financial consultant at 717 -254 -6433 again 717 -254 -6433 to learn more about the thriving difference lending faith finances and generosity that's the thriving story welcome back this is chris sarnes and your host of iron sharpens iron if you've just tuned us in our guest today for the full two hours with 90 minutes to go is dr j steven yule and for the first hour or should i say the the next half hour that is left of that hour we are discussing longing for home a journey through the psalms of ascent and then in the second hour we are going to be discussing dr yule's book a hope deferred adoption and the fatherhood of god which is something that providentially we were just discussing a few days ago on this program with tim jr trumper which is a kind of an interesting providence because we didn't we didn't plan on that but if you'd like to join us on the air with a question of your own and we do have a couple of you waiting right now to have your questions asked that if you'd like to join our email address is chris arnzen at comcast .net

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chris arnzen at comcast .net and also iron sharpens iron radio at gmail .com

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iron sharpens iron radio at gmail .com and i do want to remind you before we return to our interview that every saturday from 12 noon to 1 p .m

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eastern time i hope that you tune in to pastor bill shishko's program a visit to the pastor's study which you can hear anywhere in the new york tri -state area at on 5 40 a .m

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on the radio dial and anywhere in the world you can hear that program live streamed at www .540am

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.com i'm sorry www .wlie540am .com

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i apologize for that and wlie540am .com

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is the website that you could hear that program and it's a live call -in program so you can ask pastor bill any question on the christian life you can ask him for guidance and counseling and so on and he is a solid man of god he is an ordained orthodox presbyterian minister having just recently retired from the pastoral ministry and now is doing this program and many other things as a domestic missionary here in the united states and so please if you listen to pastor bill shishko and you call in his program make sure that you mention that you heard about it from iron sharpens iron radio and once again that's wlie540am .com

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wlie540am .com every saturday 12 noon to 1 p .m eastern time a visit to the pastor's study with pastor bill shishko and we do have a listener from clinton township michigan jeff who wants to know i have been recently using a particular translation for my daily bible reading but it seems as though the psalms don't sound as majestic or lyrical as the king james version would dr yule recommend one particular english translation over the other for study and reading um no i would not would be uh my recommendation would be multiple translations i actually think that's one of the one of the blessings of one of the blessings of having multiple translations in english is you can pick up the authorized version and perhaps the esp and the new american standard version and well of course since the nasb sponsors this program definitely use that of course and um and uh and glean much insight from comparing these translations and benefiting uh and benefiting from that that translation works and i wouldn't recommend one over another and if he if our listener jeff just enjoys the king james well especially while reading the psalms and keep reading from the king james you don't have any objection to the king james version do you certainly not no if that's uh that is his preference and uh it brings him joy as he reads then i would encourage him wholeheartedly to continue and then when he goes into study you could jeff could take your advice to use different translations when you're studying different things exactly uh well thank you very much jeff in fact you have won a free copy of longing for home a journey through the psalms of ascent by our guest dr j steven yule uh and also uh compliments of shepherd press and compliments of the coverland valley bible book service and by the way i hope our listeners don't get annoyed with me if i on occasion seem distracted but i am getting inundated with phone calls and emails about the upcoming uh pastor's luncheon and debate that i have been announcing and uh it's very exciting and i'm so thrilled about that but it's also can be distracting at times but i do thank all of you who are encouraging me that giving me more confidence that we're going to have a full house at both of these events because we have people traveling as far as i know right now as far away as virginia and washington dc and maryland and new york uh coming all the way here to carlisle pennsylvania for this event and of course local pennsylvanians as well but i really am looking forward to meeting many of you for the first time and seeing many many of you who have come uh to other events of honor but uh thank you very much for that uh the uh what what is one or two or perhaps a few of the psalms that you automatically seem to be driven to read when you yourself uh dr yule are feeling uh lonely when you're feeling perhaps going through a crisis of some kind your heart is aching you are your mind is filled with distress perhaps you are violating the the the command of christ to be anxious for nothing and which is probably the the thing that i most violate in my life as a christian is is forgetting those words of christ or disobeying them what what are the psalms that you particularly go to during those times i think the you know i i work my way into the middle of the psalms of ascent so that's 125 126 and 127 and in my book i've entitled them uh finding security experiencing joy and avoiding worry and so in these three psalms again we we empathize with the psalmist as he finds himself facing uh struggles problems whatever the nature of his struggles we don't know we're not given the details the specifics but uh we find him um struggling along and so in psalm 20 125 125 we find him uh uh celebrating who god is that um he he does good to those who are good and to those who are upright in their hearts and so when facing opposition we can we can trust in him and in the very next psalm we find him celebrating and um and rejoicing the lord has done great things for them or the nation's cry in reference to god's people and then when he comes into the next psalm we uh again still see him struggling with adverse circumstances um and yet a wonderful celebration of the fact of god's providence and god's sovereignty over all things whatever those circumstances might be you know unless the lord builds the house those who build a labor in vain unless the lord watches over the city the watchman stays awake in vain and so just how the psalmist in the midst of his conditions constantly turns his eyes heavenward upward godward and um and ties his joy and his satisfaction and his contentment not to his changing circumstances but to an unchanging god and that's where he finds his comfort that's where he derives his spiritual strength and so i have found those those three among all of them uh particularly helpful at different junctures in life especially psalm 127 where he really seems to address the whole question of anxiety and worry and what it means to to trust in god and rest in his and rest in his providence and so i've i found i find it necessary to go back to psalm 127 continually because that's a constant battle i think most believers struggle with that the worry fear anxious fear and find find the words of 127 extremely helpful and the lord has used them at different junctures in my own life now what do you mean by your chapter heading prizing community yeah prizing community that's based on um psalm 3 uh 120 no that chapter 3 isn't it i think in the book so psalm 122 and so just the again that one was written by david i believe david wrote psalm 122 and he celebrates uh what it means to go up to the house of the lord in jerusalem and he celebrates what it means to to worship with god's people at jerusalem and um he talks about how glad he is to be there and um and so i developed that psalm and just follow the uh the trajectory there that david establishes in terms of his his love for jerusalem his love for the house of the lord his love for god's people and how needful that is today especially on our journey home that as we you know we bridge the gap between david and us we we do realize there's a dramatic shift with the coming of the lord jesus and we're no longer going up to a physical city in a physical temple but we are the body of christ and the same excitement the same excitement that jerusalem generated for david way back when is the same kind of excitement that the church should generate for us and the the privilege of worshiping together with god's people the privilege of being part of the body of christ and recognizing how important that is for for mutual encouragement and edification and prizing it as such which runs contrary to a very the current trend um i can't remember if i've mentioned it in that chapter if it's a different one but i think it was kevin day young who coined that phrase decorpulation that there is an increasing trend it seems anyway among many professing believers to to to view the church as something uh um to be taken or or left it's um not necessary that there seems to be this um trend on the part of some that um they can take it or leave it and so he called it decorpulation those who think they can still hold to the head christ while disassociating or removing themselves from the body and so built on that on that psalm 122 i'd really try to emphasize the importance of prizing community prizing that is the local church and recognizing its place in the plan of god the eternal plan of god and i think that is a particularly valuable chapter and and the message is um i think particularly timely and uh what do you mean by facing danger as a chapter heading facing danger um psalm 124 correct yes that was yes again again we find the psalmist um uh recalling the um the nation's experience that um of their enemies gathering around them he says that uh you know that when their enemy's anger was kindled against them the flood would have swept them away the torrent would have gone over them if not for what if not for the lord who was on our side and so there's great celebration of of the lord's protection when facing danger facing um opposition and so in that particular chapter i speak of the greatness of their danger and um the greatness of god's deliverance excuse me all leading obviously to the greatness of uh of their god our help is in the name of the lord who made heaven and earth and um how we see all of that fulfilled in the coming of christ and the wonderful truth that god who did not spare his own son gave him up for his all for us all how will he not also then give us all things so if god is for us who can be who can be against us so again just a wonderfully encouraging psalm and i think a wonderfully encouraging chapter as to where to focus our attention um how the spirit of god strengthens our faith our faith when we do face danger and strengthens it by reminding us of the greatness of our god we have uh harrison in mechanicsburg pennsylvania who asks why is it that christians very often would say that it is inappropriate to pray for vengeance upon their enemies where god seems to have breathed out in his inerrant word in the psalms many occasions where the psalmists were doing that very thing and those christians i know that are biblically sound and orthodox will say that god has not changed from the old to the new covenant even though specific details of those covenants have changed but i have always been taught that there is no change in the way god loves nor in his wrath from old to new testament so why is it that you find these things in the psalms and very rarely hear them even uttered in christian worship other than when we are singing psalms that's a very good question that was that was from allison wasn't no harrison in mechanicsburg how was harrison just like harrison ford gotcha um excellent question there there is in the psalms of ascent there is one imprecatory psalm it's 129 where um you know the psalmist says in reference to his enemies let them be like the grass on the housetops which withers before it grows up with which the reaper does not fill his hand or the binder of sheaves his arms nor do those who pass by the blessing of the lord be upon you and so there is that uh note of imprecation cursing in psalm 129 and and you're quite right that um in much contemporary evangelical thought we have shied away from that emphasis in the in that chapter it's chapter 10 in my book on psalm 129 i actually posit uh five or six reasons uh why that might be the case i'm just turning to that chapter now and um i refer to things such as a disjointed view of scripture i think that is prevalent today that um that many evangelicals fail to see the unity between the old testament and the new testament even the fact that the new testament actually quotes several of the imprecatory psalms might surprise um some contemporary evangelicals the second reason i give is um is the fact that there is there is a distorted view of god today um god of the old testament the god of the new testament there are i don't know any evangelicals today who would identify themselves as marcionites um the idea the idea that the old testament god is vengeful and the new testament god is merciful i don't think any are running around identifying themselves as marcionites you know he was what the second century third century but um i have met a number of evangelicals who kind of had the view that is god the father before us in the old testament and god the son in the new testament and um they seem to be different i've often heard that kind of thinking come out in the way in which um some people describe the relationship between what they they read in the old read in the new uh i think some just have a deficient view of sin and still struggle with the with the imprecatory psalms a diminished view of justice i think has contributed to it a a deficient understanding of of forgiveness uh i think there are a number a number of contributing factors i think the important thing to remember is this that um god god's justice is real god's god's vengeance is real and the imprecatory psalms are fulfilled they're either fulfilled at calvary's cross where the lord jesus bears the curse on behalf of his people on behalf of sinners or they are fulfilled in the last day of the judgment and so um those are psalms on the lips of christ and on the lips of his people that do have a a future fulfillment that is a terrifying thought it's an unpleasant thought and yet we we need to glorify god in his grace and his mercy and also glorify remember to glorify him in his in his justice as well and i think those psalms do have an appropriate place when we see them their their fulfillment in the final judgment well i for instance i think that where this question is very applicable would be in a day where it seems that every single day we see and hear about the atrocities being performed globally by islamic terrorists and you have some people who all they want to do is have nuclear warheads fired at different areas where muslims dominate the population and they have nothing but wrath in their mind and heart and then you may have others who respond only in a fashion like you might imagine mr rogers uh in his neighborhood there uh but is there a inappropriate way to pray for god to either save the souls of these terrorists or or bring them to their uh their their end on this earth through destruction and so on well i think our calling and we could go to romans 12 and 13 for this i mean our calling is to pray for those who persecute us and to pray for our enemies i think when we find ourselves in the shadow of the cross and have experienced the mercy of god in christ jesus the only commensurate worthy response is to show mercy and that offer mercy is made in the proclamation of the gospel whosoever will may come and whosoever repents of their sin and believes in the lord jesus shall be saved at the same time we recognize that those who refuse christ and that those who have disobeyed the gospel of christ they are as paul says in romans 2 storing up for themselves wrath it was a terrible thought they are actually storing up for themselves wrath that is to be revealed in the last day i don't think it is our place to call that down now i don't think it's our place to confuse that wrath with civil authorities and or anything of that nature i think our calling as believers as ambassadors of christ is to proclaim the good news of salvation for all who believe and it is to remember that mercy tasted mercy experienced is mercy proclaimed and shared and that should be our posture in this world while at the same time yes recognizing and and to some degree anticipating and waiting and praying for that day when the righteous judge will set all things right we don't need to take that into our own hands but i assume that you are not a pacifist and believe that there is uh such a thing as the right use of a military in war not that every single time a nation even ours sends out our military especially in the foreign lands to fight the battles of others uh and where are many of our own young men and women are perishing out there but but do you not believe that there is a a good and god -honoring use of the military and of weaponry and so on uh when when the the when there seems to be no other proper alternative and i would base that in large part on on romans 13 where paul tells us that um the civil authorities bear the sword that they um they are instituted by god and they are instituted by god for our good and we are to submit ourselves to those civil authorities i think that authority exists what paul has in mind there that authority exists for the preservation of life and the protection of life all based on the fact that uh we are fashioned in the in the image of god the civil authorities therefore have a god -given right and responsibility to protect life so we have law enforcement domestically and i think you can make application then to international affairs that there may arise an occasion where the the use of force as paul envisioned that there in romans chapter 13 is necessary for the preservation of life and for the um honoring of god in that well i'd like you to uh conclude this portion of the program with what you most want our listeners to have etched in their their hearts and minds uh before we move over to the next topic for the second hour i think the uh the note i would like to to end on is is the final chapter psalm 134 i entitled it blessing god come bless the lord all you servants of the lord who stand by night in the house of the lord lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the lord may the lord bless you from zion he who made heaven and earth and it seems a fitting conclusion to the psalms of ascent because the psalmist throughout the psalms has repeatedly looked heavenward and forces his audience to look heavenward and it ends on a on a beautiful note a very telling note that there's then this invitation to come and and bless the lord and so i end the the book just building on that on this um on this final note that you know god is uh the one who hangs the earth on nothing he binds up the waters in his thick clouds he covers the face of the full moon he has inscribed the boundary between light and darkness behold these are but the outskirts of his ways and how small a whisper do we hear of him and then i add now this is the god we bless and this is the god who blesses us when we know this god we enjoy a blessing which the greatest storm cannot touch a peace which the roughest sea cannot upset and a delight which the mightiest wind cannot disturb when we bless this god we travel well and we end well no matter what we encounter on our way home i think that is a central message of the um of the psalms of of ascent and a and a fitting i think a fitting conclusion to this this portion of our interview well thank you so much dr yule and we are going to be transitioning in our next hour to come uh to discuss a hope deferred adoption and the fatherhood of god another book that dr yule has written that was published by shepherd press if you would like to join us with a question for dr yule on that subject our email address is chris arnzen at gmail .com

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chris arnzen at g i'm sorry i'm giving the gmail account uh chris arnzen at comcast .net

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chris arnzen at comcast .net and the only operating gmail account we right now have for the show is iron sharpens iron radio at gmail .com

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iron sharpens iron radio at gmail .com is the other email address you could use today and please give us your first name at least your city and state and your country of residence if you live outside of the usa and don't go away we are going to be right back after these messages with dr j steven yule so uh get those questions ready and we'll be back before you know it i'm james white of alpha omega ministries the new american standard bible is perfect for daily reading or in -depth study used by pastors scholars and everyday readers the nasb is widely embraced and trusted as a literal and readable bible translation the nasb offers clarity and readability while maintaining high accuracy to the original languages which the nasb is known for the nasb is available in many editions like a topical reference bible researched and prepared by biblical scholars devoted to accuracy the new topical reference bible includes contemporary topics relevant to today's issues from compact to giant print bibles find an nasb that fits your needs very affordably at nasbible .com

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g3 conference .com thanks todd i think see you at the iron sharpens iron exhibitors booth linbrook baptist church on 225 earl avenue in linbrook long island is teaching god's timeless truths in the 21st century our church is far more than a sunday worship service it's a place of learning where the scriptures are studied and the preaching of the gospel is clear and relevant it's like a gym where one can exercise their faith through community involvement it's like a hospital for wounded souls where one can find compassionate people and healing we're a diverse family of all ages enthusiastically serving our lord jesus christ in fellowship play and together hi i'm pastor bob waldeman and i invite you to come and join us here at linbrook baptist church and see all that a church can be call linbrook baptist at 516 -599 -9402 that's 516 -599 -9402 or visit linbrookbaptist .org

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that's solid rock remodeling .com solid rock remodeling bringing new life to your home welcome back this is chris arnzen if you just tuned in today our guest for the full two hours with one hour to go is dr j steven yule and today for the second hour we are discussing a hope deferred adoption and the fatherhood of god if anybody would like to join us on the air with a question for dr yule regarding that subject our email address is chris arnzen at comcast .net

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chris arnzen at comcast .net and also iron sharpens iron radio at gmail .com

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iron sharpens iron radio at gmail .com and we'll let you know when the other gmail account is reactivated by google who seems to be very quick with the trigger finger these days on yours truly going overboard or going over quota without going emails before i return to our guest i also want to remind our listeners about the one item in regard to the upcoming debate between reform baptist scholar dr tony costa from toronto baptist seminary and roman catholic scholar robertson jenis of catholic apologetics international who are debating on friday january 13th at 7 p .m

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at the carlisle theater here in carlisle pennsylvania on mary a sinless queen of heaven or sinner saved by grace quite a number of you are emailing me asking me if we are live streaming this event we are not live streaming it we are videotaping it and recording it so the video and audio god willing will be eventually available how soon after that i am not certain but that will be eventually available or they will be available both video and audio but it's not going to be live stream so if you are uh totally set on seeing and hearing this live you're going to have to come out to carlisle pennsylvania and we got a lot of folks traveling very far distances already to come out so perhaps you can too and for more details you could email me about the event at chris arnzen at comcast .net

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or ironsharpensironradio .com and put debate in the subject line if you're emailing about that issue well as i said that we in the second hour we're going to be discussing uh this other book by uh dr yule a hope deferred adoption and the fatherhood of god i just want to quickly read a couple of endorsements of for this book by two men that i greatly admire the first is dr sinclair ferguson who just a couple of months ago was preaching at the church where i am a member here in carlisle grace baptist church of carlisle pennsylvania and uh dr ferguson who i have greatly admired for many years going back to my conversion in the mid 1980s he says this book leads us on a journey that is full of twists and surprises woven into the narrative are the richly colored threads of a superb practical application of paul's preaching paul's teaching in romans 8 and this is a then this is punctuated with the wisdom of past masters of the christian life a good read a moving story and a great help all in one that's dr sinclair ferguson a professor of systematic theology at redeemer seminary and dr joel r biki who's been a guest on this program many times he says how long oh lord is the is a piercing biblical cry which stephen and allison yule or yule lived over many years of praying that god would give them children god granted them a deeper knowledge of his fatherly love this book is a precious mosaic of personal stories and biblical teaching that goes straight to the heart that's dr joel r biki president of puritan reform theological seminary in grand rapids michigan and finally tim challis who's also been a guest on this program pastor author of the discipline of spiritual discernment uh dr uh tim challis says adoption is a doubly beautiful doctrine the christian's greatest privilege is being adopted into god's family and gaining all the rights and privileges of children the greatest joy of so many parents is adopting a child and extending to him all the rights and privileges that come with adoption stephen yule beautifully combines doctrine and narrative he looks to the bible and explains the theology of adoption and he looks to his own family life to show adoption lived out read it and be blessed and that's tim challis as i said well uh that obviously explained a lot of the the reasons that uh the primary reasons that led you to write this book uh to begin with dr yule uh if you could go through uh some of those things in a little bit more detail about uh your wife and you the yearning and longing to have children and the way that you were able to overcome despair uh by trusting in the mercy and grace of god on this issue yeah the um i mean the book was quite literally years in the making um going all the way back to 1991 so my wife and i just celebrated our 25th anniversary this past summer and so congratulations oh thank you very much and and in the book what i do then in the uh even numbered chapters is i i trace our journey from basically 1991 right through to 2011 when we adopted our our daughter from from china and so i have six or seven chapters highlighting the hot you know just the highs and the low points over the course of um almost 20 years of of dealing with infertility of uh of um finally having a biological child after uh almost 10 years of marriage and um this desire to adopt um really going back to uh our first year of marriage and then being fulfilled finally 2011 and so just trace that journey of what that was like and uh my wife and i went when i was planning the book and we were talking talking about it um you know we recognize well this isn't this isn't everyone's journey as a matter of fact it's it probably only uh you know relates to a relatively small group of people who've gone through these sorts of things but but maybe you know necessary things to discuss and and and put the paper for for their help for their benefit and pray the lord lord uses it just the lessons he taught us through that journey and the the particular truths in scripture that um he used to help us deal with disappointment uh deal with fear deal with uh disillusionment at times and through it all to uh to remind us that he's our greater treasure and um he's our our greater reward and so we thought that was important just to put that all all on paper and trust maybe the lord would use it in some other believers lives some other couple that may be um going through similar similar situations and and the lord would use it in their lives and then we just i just thought what would be what would complement it so well is then in the the odd number chapters is to go to romans 8 and expound it section by section by section so there are maybe six or seven chapters of them an exposition of romans 8 and in particular what j .i

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packer calls the climax of the bible which is the fatherhood of god um we've no longer you know received the the um spirit of you know bondage to fear but um spirit by whom we cry have a father and uh and so i just sort of expound romans 8 and um what it means to have god as as our father and so weave these chapters the one a very personal story and then the other exposition and application of romans 8 and and hoping that as the as the reader jumps back and forth um he or she is gleaning a number of lessons concerning the fatherhood of god and what that means for the christian life and again for the christian for the christian journey so the book is very pastoral by nature i mean it's it's not certainly um does not lack theology but it is theology and practice and how that plays out in life and um and what it looks like at particular junctures in the believer's life that's that's the gist that's the gist of the book well if you don't mind i'm going to read romans chapter 8 and it's not a very long chapter and uh this is uh reading from the new american standard bible there is now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus for the law of the spirit of life in christ jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death for what the law could not do weak as it was through the flesh god did sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin he condemned sin in the flesh so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit for those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh but those who are according to the spirit the things of the spirit for the mind set on the flesh is death but the mindset on the spirit is life and peace because the mindset on the flesh is hostile towards god for it does not subject itself to the law of god for it is not even able to do so and those who are in the flesh cannot please god however you are not in the flesh but in the spirit if indeed the spirit of god dwells in you but if anyone does not have the spirit of god he does not belong to him if christ is in you though the body is dead because of sin yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness but if the spirit of him who raised jesus from the dead dwells in you he who raised christ jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you so then brethren we are under obligation not to the flesh to live according to the flesh for if you are living according to the flesh you must die but if by the spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body you will live for all who are being led by the spirit of god these are sons of god for you have not received the spirit of slavery leading to fear again but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out abba father the spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of god and if children heirs also heirs of god and fellow heirs with christ if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him for i consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with a glory that is to be revealed in us where the anxious lodging of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of god 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 that will be set free let's see i've lost my place here i'm sorry will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of god for we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now and not only this but also we ourselves having the first roots of the spirit even we ourselves grown within ourselves waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons the redemption of our body for in hope we have been saved but hope that is seen is not hope for hope for what has for what for what he already sees but if we hope for what we do not see with perseverance we wait eagerly for it in the same way the spirit also helps our weakness for we do not know how to pray as we should but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words and he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of god and we know that god causes all things to work together for good to those who love god to those who are called according to his purpose for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren and these whom he predestined he also called and these whom he called he also justified and these whom he justified he also glorified what then shall we say to these things if god is for us who is against us he who did not spare his son but deliver him over for us all how will he not also act with him freely give us all things who will bring a charge against god's elect god is the one who justifies who is the one who condemns christ jesus is he who died yes rather who was raised for it is at the right hand of god who also intercedes intercedes for us who will separate us from the love of christ will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword just as it is written for your sake we are being put to death all day long we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered but in all these things we were over we we overwhelmingly we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us for i am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord obviously very precious precious and deeply important words for those who are children of god especially when we have gone through trials in our lives and are being tempted by satan to doubt god's love for us but this is a very rich chapter of scripture obviously because it has a lot of theological truth in this and a lot of things that are really summed up and i know that some of my arminian friends get annoyed with me by constantly standing on a calvinist soapbox but i sometimes wonder how someone who believes in the inerrancy of scripture can read those words in that chapter and walk away an arminian i mean that doesn't this is really uh such a precious series of truths that we have regarding uh the fact that god is the one who chooses he loves us first and chooses us and adopts us and that nothing nothing will ever snatch us away from him or nothing will make him fall out of love with us if we are truly his these are these are such uh precious thoughts and how do these apply to the actual uh parent who has adopted children or who is considering adopting children if you could give us flush out the similarities not only between not only for what the doctrine of adoption is in the scripture but also how that is so much a wedded to even the adoption of children in the lives of believers on this earth yeah that that's that's excellent um a point i make in the book is that um adoption uh can sometimes sometimes be wrongly perceived as a as a second choice as as settling um it it may seem strange for me for me to say it and uh encourage your your listeners to to hear me through but i've i've i've heard one or two people express it oh you you couldn't have your own children so you decided to adopt um i i would never describe adoption in those terms adoption for my my wife and i wasn't settling um it wasn't a a second choice or a last option it was a desire and um we now have an adopted daughter a biological daughter and in our eyes and in our estimation um they are our they are our daughters i think that's a wonderful truth to bear in mind especially when it comes to god's adoption of us because at times i think people do have that idea that it was his second option or that he was settling but in actual fact paul tells us that um he predestined us to adoption as sons amen in other words god's adoption of us was not an afterthought it was not a second choice it was not settling because his first plan didn't work out it was always his intention and um and so i see the how that there's that it crosses then into our own experience and for those who have adopted or perhaps some of our listeners who have been adopted um to to see that for for what it is um that god was proactive in in uh in adopting us in christ jesus it was his plan a there was never a plan b and how wonderfully encouraging that is for us to to realize that um as his plan a there is nothing that can undo that or or or change that and how important i think that is then for in terms of our earthly experiences of adoption to see it through that same lens that we're we are um we are we are speaking of something that is precious in god's sight and by extension precious in our sight that we whether it is biologically or through adoption we are bringing children into our family as our first choice and those children then entering into all the rights and the privileges and the honors and the benefits and the blessings that come with being members of our family and and we love them regardless of how they enter our family and that love is unchanging and to see that played out in a physical family it really does mirror in many ways what has happened in our in our relationship with god then driven by love in love he predestined us for for adoption as sons knowing beforehand what we were who we were and uh that is a special love that is a peculiar love that is an unchanging love or an unwavering love it's a love rooted and fixed in the lord jesus and it is a tremendously tremendously encouraging truth amen and uh we we're going to our last break right now so don't go away we'll be right back please uh email us your questions at chris arnzen at comcast .net

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chris arnzen at comcast .net or iron sharpens iron radio at gmail .com

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iron sharpens iron radio at gmail .com don't go away we'll be right back with dr j steven yule paul wrote to the church at galatia for am i now seeking the approval of man or of god or am i trying to please man if i were still trying to please man i would not be a servant of christ hi i'm mark lukens pastor of providence baptist church we are reformed baptist church and we hold to the london baptist confession of faith of 1689 we are in nofolk massachusetts we strive to reflect paul's mindset to be much more concerned with how god views what we say and what we do than how men view these things that's not the best recipe for popularity but since that wasn't the apostles priority it must not be ours either we believe by god's grace that we are called to demonstrate love and compassion to our fellow man and to be vessels of christ's mercy to a lost and hurting community around us and to build up the body of christ in truth and love if you live near massachusetts or plan to visit our area please come and join us for worship and fellowship you can call us at 508 -528 -5750 that's 508 -528 -5750 or go to our website to email us listen to past sermons worship songs or watch our tv program entitled resting in grace you can find us at providence baptist church ma .org

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that's providence baptist church ma .org or even on sermonaudio .com providence baptist church is delighted to sponsor iron sharpens iron radio iron sharpens iron radio is sponsored by harvey cedars a year -round bible conference and retreat center nestled on the jersey shore harvey cedars offers a wide range of accommodations to suit groups up to 400 for generations christians have enjoyed gathering and growing at harvey cedars each year thousands of high school and college students come and learn more about god's word an additional nine thousand come annually to harvey cedars as families couples singles men women pastors seniors and missionaries 90 miles from new york city 70 miles from philly and 95 miles from wilmington and easily accessible scores of notable christian groups frequently planned conferences at harvey cedars like the navigators intervarsity christian fellowship campus crusade and the alliance of confessing evangelicals find harvey cedars on facebook or at hcbible .org

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that's solid -ground -books .com and see what priceless literary gems from the past or present you can unearth from solid ground solid ground christian books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of iron sharpens iron radio chris arnzen here and i can't wait to head down to atlanta georgia and here's my friend dr james white to tell you why hi i'm james white of alpha and omega ministries i hope you join me at the g3 conference hosted by pastor josh bison praise mill baptist church at the georgia international convention center in atlanta january 19th through the 21st in celebration of the 500th anniversary of the protestant reformation i'll be joined by paul washer steve lawson d .a

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chris arnzen at comcast .net and also iron sharpens iron radio at gmail .com

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iron sharpens iron radio at gmail .com before i go to a couple of our listeners that are waiting to have their questions asked isn't it interesting uh dr yule that some folks who profess to be christian view god's adoption of his children uh in a way that they would never tolerate or even think would be anything less than monstrous if human beings were to adopt that way and what i mean by that is that they have this understanding of god as if he uh were uh taking children home with him for a while to see how they behave and if they really turn out to be too disobedient for his liking he basically throws them away whereas whereas uh the god that has adopted us who are his children adopted us even knowing how much we rebelled against him or would rebel against him how much we might even hate him and spit on everything that he holds to be valuable and cherishes and yet chose to adopt us nonetheless and transform us and so on if you could comment on that yeah again it goes back to it goes back to what paul is is teaching in romans 8 he is teaching in ephesians 1 that adoption is rooted in love god's love and this love is not contingent on our performance it is not contingent upon us doing our best it is not contingent upon us choosing him first it's not it's not contingent on anything in us it is by definition mercy it is a merciful love and so a a love that he imparts a love that he sets upon us and i mean that that is that is one of the most encouraging truths in scripture because it you know we often our love is is somewhat mercenary when we love we expect to be loved in return when we love we expect something back but god's love is is merciful it is set upon us while we were yet dead in our trespasses and sins and he brings us into his family and it is a love that is the love he has for his son so the love the father has for the son is the love he has now bestowed upon us and with which he loves us his adopted children and that is a very encouraging and comforting truth amen well we have a couple of listeners we have an anonymous listener that has a question for you uh my spouse and i do not have any biological children and at times we feel pressured by christians to adopt but we know that there are things in our lives and in our marriage that would not provide right now the best home for a child we actually see the fact that we don't have any biological children as an act of god's mercy at this point in our lives do you think this is selfish of us to not bring children into our home uh this this would be obviously something that we would have to seek to do when we aren't even having them naturally and going through further steps than ordinary parents would who have children naturally we do not feel comfortable right now in doing so because of the fact as i've just stated we do not think it would be best for these children if we were to bring them into our lives what is your comment about those christians who put pressure on childless couples to adopt as if they are behaving selfishly excellent question a couple of things by way of response the first is this um when it comes to adopting into our families really the only reason for doing so is because we want children um there has been a bit of a move a foot of late um you know the mindset that it everyone should be adopting um if you have biological children or don't have biological children um almost the idea that it's the church's has become almost missional to it to adopt and i understand where the thinking comes from and i appreciate it i'm respectful of it but really when it comes down to it um we adopt because we because we want children and um we want to honor god in the in the raising of those children and so to be pressured in that regard or to um put anyone on a guilt trip that they should be doing this because they have the means to or because they should be concerned about the plight of uh of children perhaps in the foster care system i don't think that's the right i don't think that's the right motivation um i think it's us recognizing the gift that children are a desire to have children a desire to honor god in that um but let me add to that secondly that recognizing that perhaps um i can't remember how you quite worded it but that your your home situation perhaps is not idyllic for for adopting and that maybe there are issues there that need to be worked through or resolved or things need to be changed i would not make that a long -term excuse for not adopting if there are things in your home marriage whatever it may be that you don't think are conducive to adopting those are things that you ought to address before the lord and seek to change and seek help and seek help with that and then seek the lord's the lord's will the lord's mind as to how you might then might then grow your family and so i trust that uh that counsel is well taken well received and guess what anonymous listener if you give me privately obviously off the air your full name and mailing address you have also won a free copy of this book a hope deferred adoption and the fatherhood of god by our guest dr steven yule and i promise that you will remain anonymous if you give me that information at chris arnson at comcast .net

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the same email address you sent your question to chris arnson at comcast .net and of course we also have iron sharpens iron radio at gmail .com

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iron sharpens iron radio at gmail .com we have rj in white plains new york who wants to know is there a difference between the doctrine of unconditional election and adoption um there is a there is a difference when we speak of election we are moving back um before time he chose us in him says paul god chose us in him in christ before the foundation of the world and so we have moved back in terms of the order of salvation we have moved back into the decrees of god when it comes to adoption we're now entering time and how election is affected in time and so those whom he foreknew he predestined that's all before the foundation of the world we've entered into the the secret will of god the decrees and those whom he predestined he called we've now entered time and how god actually applies salvation in the life of the in the life of the individual the life of the believer that's where adoption occurs it's in time just as that calling the effectual calling justification adoption setting apart these are now the blessings that are ours because we've been brought to faith with the lord jesus we're knit together with him he's taken hold of us by the holy spirit we've taken hold of him by faith and therefore all those blessings that are made available that he has purchased for us are now ours and one of them is adoption that we become the sons of god heirs of god co -heirs with christ and oh uh we have um let's see here we have bb in cumberland county pennsylvania and bb wants to know uh when you adopt children who are from different races or ethnic origins is it important to import the traditions and customs of that child's race or ethnicity into the way you raise them or is it just fine to raise that child within the own with within your own customs and traditions of whatever race or ethnicity you happen to belong to obviously i'm not referring to christianity here and the doctrines of scripture which are not an option they are required of any christian couple but i'm speaking more of tertiary and secondary customs and traditions here that's an excellent question there are varying opinions when it comes to an answer uh my own convictions are are fairly fairly straightforward fairly simple in um in our case our our daughter is from is from china but um she now lives here and she is part of of this culture and so the priority is her identity as a as a citizen of this country and a member of this society that's the priority at the same time however we want to make sure she is aware of her heritage that she is aware of where she came from and that she views it positively and still um feels a an awareness and a connection and um and yes i think that's the key views it positively and so it is now that balance between who she is her identity um living here in the united states while at the same time um creating that consciousness of uh of where she's where she's from her understanding is in a very positive a very positive way and um facilitating her desire as she grows older to perhaps probe that and uh and develop it and so that's that's our approach approach and that's our that's our handling of it uh but that's an that's an excellent question and and plenty plenty has been written on it and it's interesting that in the politically correct atmosphere with which we live you have this uh this uh contradictory uh kind of ideology that is very often imposed on all of us where on the one hand we are taught that it is wrong to stereotype and then it seems like people are wrong if they break stereotypes by doing something different than is commonly seen or what is expected from people of certain races or ethnicities you know i'm saying yeah yeah by the way uh thank you uh bb you're gonna get a free copy of this book a hope deferred adoption and the fatherhood of god by dr j steven yule and i'd like to say to all of you who are winning these books that after you're finished reading them if you are not personally going through an issue where you are considering adoption or you have adopted i would strongly urge you to give the book as a gift to somebody that either you know now who is going through something like that or that you uh wait for that time when providentially you do meet someone uh perhaps in your church or even in your own family uh that you might want to give these books to when you are finished reading them uh perhaps if you know somebody now you don't even have to begin reading it you could just give it to them but uh thank you bb for the great question and uh now again we are running out of time a lot sooner than i thought i mean it's always two hours but the time goes by like a bullet very often and i'd like you to spend five minutes to really summarize what you most want etched in the hearts and minds of our listeners about this very important topic excellent thanks for the opportunity um i think in the in a in the context of um of the book a a hope deferred is the the title there's a there's a play there um on the words i hope deferred it has a primary application yes to to my wife and myself our experience of adoption that it was a 20 year long process and so in that sense a hope deferred and a um and therefore a hope fulfilled finally when uh when our adoption of our of our daughter came to fruition that's one angle the other angle a hope deferred is it's really a commentary on the doctrine of adoption that adoption brings us into the family of god and by virtue of that we are the beneficiaries right now of tremendous tremendous blessings uh you know the forgiveness of sins a a new identity in christ whereby we are christians and uh the father's care and providential care whereby we now know that he he causes he works all things together for our good uh the certainty that uh no ill defaults us no problem encompasses us apart from the sovereign will of our father that he is on our side and um he watches over us he provides for us he nurtures us he disciplines us all that fatherhood entails but it is a hope deferred meaning yes there are there are present blessings and privileges but um our current status and many of the promises inclusive to that status are yet to be fulfilled it is a hope deferred and so it brings us to that that whole dichotomy of the now and the not yet realities of salvation that yes we are saved but we're waiting salvation the consummation yes we are we are adopted but we are awaiting adoption as paul tells us in romans chapter 8 um the resurrection the consummation our glorification and so while yes tremendous blessings and privileges at present and um and god is our is our father and how encouraging and comforting and strengthening this is on our journey home there is still the hope deferred that the hope of glory is something that uh we're yearning for we're longing for and paul in romans 8 makes that tremendous statement i think it's verse 17 or verse 18 where he says that i do not consider i do not consider present suffering worth comparing to the glory yet to be revealed that's so important to keep in mind even when we understand and fully appreciate what it means to be adopted into god's family that that does not mean translate into an absence of present suffering that we still live in a fallen world and we still endure innumerable hardships and suffering and some of them difficult to understand at times but we have this certainty that even our present suffering paul says is not worth comparing it doesn't say you know that um future glory is 10 times better 100 times better than present suffering paul's estimation his opinion is that present suffering is not even worth comparing to future glory when we come into what it really means to be the adopted children of god in the consummation in that coming age and all that god has in store for us just how how encouraging it is and how important it is for us to make that future hope a present reality in life right now and to live accordingly value things accordingly and remind ourselves ourselves daily of yes what god brought has brought us into at present and yes all that awaits us in the consummation and how when we fix our eyes on that hope god uses it to heighten and strengthen our expectation thereby imparting endurance in the face of of whatever um he brings in the meantime and oftentimes it's difficulties i'm sure the listeners know it as well as i do oftentimes as james tells us we fall into trials of various kinds but we are able to endure we are able to persevere when our eyes are fixed on the hope of glory and all that our heavenly father has in store for us so that's that's the note on which i i'd like to end the interview and uh leave with the listeners and i trust will be extremely encouraging to them well thank you so much dr yule and i know that your church grace community church's website is gccministries .org

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gcc for grace community church ministries .org and that is grace community church in glenrose texas if you'd like to get a hold of this book or either of the books that we've been discussing you can go to shepherdpress .com

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shepherdpress .com and also obviously you can always go whenever we interview an author on iron sharpens iron you can go to cumberland valley bible book service because they sponsor our program and we appreciate if you would order through them as much as possible cvbbs .com