David Westerfield

John Piper has a simple format he uses whenever there is something that is coming up against him, or whenever there is a circumstance that simply lies out of his control. Whether studying Scripture, preaching, teaching, trials, or whatever it may be, this format seems to be very helpful. It’s simplistic and many people may say, “oh of course, I know all those things.” But does your heart know these things? We can simply acknowledge information with our lips and our heart be very far from the content of what the words mean. Just as the ACTS acrostic is useful in prayer (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), this is also useful in the same context, particularly when you have something difficult coming up against you. It’s APTAT and it goes like this:

A – “Admit you cannot do it without Christ.” This is simply the acknowledgement and agreement with Christ that we can do nothing apart from Him. We must tell our hearts this, otherwise we can slip into self-sufficiency and non-reliance upon Christ.

P – “Pray for assistance and help and enablement.” This is acknowledging your totally depraved nature, that sin has disabled all your faculties, all facets of your life, every aspect, and that the only way you can do anything for God’s glory is by His Spirit giving you power.

T – “Trust in a particular promise of God to give you what you need for that situation.” Use your mind to think about the various promises of God and meditate upon these. They are set in stone and we cannot be moved because of His promises, appropriated through the cross. Consider the promises of Romans 8, for example.

A – “Act, no passivity.” At this point, we act (we don’t sit around and wait for God to zap us or make us move, we start to act with our hands and hearts). We utilize the abilities we’ve been given in the name of Christ, relying upon His strength to give us power in the midst of what it is we have to do or go through.

T – “Thankfulness to God for His work in helping you.” After we have accompished or gone through these events, we submit to God, giving Him glory for all of it, every aspect, from beginning to end. This is simply attributing to God what is rightly His work. Praise Him for His faithfulness!

We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
> Hebrews 6:19-20

The hope we believers have from God is secured and rooted in Jesus’ work on our behalf, both in His life in living sinlessly before the Father, as well as His work on the cross to deliver us from the wrath of God, in order that we may be reconciled to Him and gain God as our treasure. And more specifically in this passage we see the work of Jesus as our faithful High Priest who forever lives to intercede on behalf of those who have faith in Him. Before Christ came and instituted the new covenant by His blood, there was an old system God setup, by which each year, the High Priest would enter the most holy place of the temple through the shedding of blood in order to atone for the sins of the people. This was a very specialized practice where if one thing was done wrong, the High Priest would die instantly. And this illustrates one thing amongest many things: God is holy and just and He takes His glory seriously, so seriously that people would die if they did what He told them not to do in the temple as well as with the ark. And this system was setup to typify that which would occur later, that Christ Himself would be the greatest and final High Priest on behalf of those who possess faith in His blood. He came in order to be not only that High Priest who intercedes for His people, but also to be the very sacrifice Himself offered on the altar to remove sins, blotting them out forever. And the hope we have, this anchor of the soul, enters “behind the curtain,” or into the place where God Himself dwelled amongest the Israelites. That is our hope! We get God for all eternity! This is the best part of salvation. The mighty majestic pillar of fire that appeared to the Israelites is now the one who dwells in us and we ourselves have become sancutaries of the most high God, slowly but surely being conformed to the image of Christ by His work. And all this thanks to the work of Christ to absorb God’s wrath in Himself on the cross, to take on and experience hell itself so that we don’t have to, and give us the very righteousness and perfection we need to stand before God at the judgment of all men. And instead of getting hell, we get the very Spirit of God Himself, the one behind the curtain in the old system, that now dwells in our hearts. How wonderful and amazing is this, that God can indwell sinners! And it could only have happened through the death and resurrection of the Son of God. As it recently said on the DesiringGod.org website (my paraphrase), “Christ did not so much die as an example to follow, but as a sacrifice to actually pay for sins.”

Some may ask, how in the world do the covenants practically relate to my relationship with Christ. Well it’s simple and it plainly gets down to the nuts and bolts of the Gospel itself. Recently I was talking with someone who had been reading through the Old Testament and as they were reading through it, they became more and more downcast in their relationship with Christ and feeling unworthy to approach Him. This person saw all these laws, stipulations, and requirements, and it just brought despair and self-loathing. How can I ever measure up, they thought. And my response was simply, that’s the point! This person didn’t understand the differences between the Old and New Covenants and thought the New Covenant in Christ was simply an addition to the Old one. Rather it abolishes the Old because it fulfills it. The Old Covenant, with all of it’s laws and regulations, cannot save us. As soon as you start comparing yourself to it, you will find that you are absolutely hopeless to bring any right thing on your own before God. The Old Covenant brings self-deprication when a person seriously examines their life in comparison. However, the Old Covenant points to a new one that would come, and indeed already has come. The New Covenant is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant through the perfect obedience and work of Christ. God the Son came to this earth, putting on human flesh and subjected Himself to the law, obeying it perfectly. He then suffered under the wrath of God on the cross on behalf of anyone who believes in Him. He then gives them the very thing they need to enter the presence of God, His perfect record. By faith in Jesus Christ, because of His work on the cross, He gives us His very righteousness, perfect record, and obedience. Once I conveyed this to this person I was talking with, they suddenly saw that Christ’s work itself is the new Covenant on behalf of believers. Here is an excellent resource pertaining to this … http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/a … nants.html

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” – John 10:14-15

In reading this, I was considering what a wonderful thought this is, that Christ knows His people just as the Father knows Him. But what does this mean, that He simply knows information about them? No, but that Christ initimately, infinitely loves them, just as the Father loves Christ. And consider how great is the love of the Father for the Son! And He loves us this much. Was this not demonstrated on the cross, where He bore the brunt of what we earned from our sinning and took the fruits of that labor upon Himself? And if that wasn’t enough, He gave us His perfect record instead! What a wonderful God is this that would give His life as a ransom for many. What amazing grace this is …