Easter Reading Recommendations

Feb 27, 2012 by desiringvirtue

This is the season for celebrating the cross of Christ. What a wonderful work has been done on the behalf of man through the sacrifice of the perfect Lamb of God! During seasons like this I enjoy dedicating myself to the study of what it is we are truly celebrating and how it impacts my life. This year I am reading In My Place Condemned He Stood, a book that focuses on the wonderful doctrine of Christ taking my place and paying for my sins. Perhaps you too are looking for a good book that focuses on the truth of Christ’s work through the cross to bring you to salvation and sanctification. If so, I pray that within this list of cross centered resources you will find a book to draw you closer to Christ this Easter season. Most of these books focus on what was accomplished through the cross, and the last three are great explanations for how to apply such beautiful truths to your life as God’s child.

Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross

Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter

Edited by Nancy Guthrie

Publisher’s Description: This collection of readings, drawn from the writings and sermons of 25 classic and contemporary theologians and Bible teachers, focuses on the wonder of Christ’s sacrifice.

In a culture where crosses have become little more than decorative accessories and jewelry, how easy it is for even the most well-intended Christian to rush from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday without thoughtfully contemplating the cross and all that it means. Yet we miss out on spiritual riches when we do.

So that we all may linger at the cross during the Lenten season—and stay near it the whole year through—editor Nancy Guthrie has compiled this special anthology. It draws from the works and sermons of classic theologians such as Luther, Edwards, Spurgeon, Ryle, and Augustine, and from leading contemporary communicators such as John Piper, R. C. Sproul, Francis Schaeffer, John MacArthur, Skip Ryan, and Joni Eareckson Tada to help readers enter into an experience of Christ’s passion and anchor their hope in the power of his resurrection.

Each essay in this collection holds to a high view of Scripture and expounds on a particular aspect of the Easter story using the appropriate Scripture passage from the ESV Bible. These readings are sure to prepare people’s hearts for a fresh experience of the cross each and every Easter season.

The Cross of Christ

By John R.W. Stott

The work of a lifetime, from one of the world’s most influential thinkers, about the heart of the Christian faith. “I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. . . . In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?” With compelling honesty John Stott confronts this generation with the centrality of the cross in God’s redemption of the world — a world now haunted by the memories of Auschwitz, the pain of oppression and the specter of nuclear war. Can we see triumph in tragedy, victory in shame? Why should an object of Roman distaste and Jewish disgust be the emblem of our worship and the axiom of our faith? And what does it mean for us today? Now from one of the foremost preachers and Christian leaders of our day comes theology at its readable best, a contemporary restatement of the meaning of the cross. At the cross Stott finds the majesty and love of God disclosed, the sin and bondage of the world exposed. More than a study of the atonement, this book brings Scripture into living dialogue with Christian theology and the twentieth century. What emerges is a pattern for Christian life and worship, hope and mission. Destined to be a classic study of the center of our faith, Stott’s work is the product of a uniquely gifted pastor, scholar and Christian statesman. His penetrating insight, charitable scholarship and pastoral warmth are guaranteed to feed both heart and mind.

Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die

By John Piper

WHY?

The most important questions anyone can ask are: Why was JesusChrist crucified? Why did he suffer so much? What has this to dowith me? Finally, who sent him to his sdeath? The answer to thelast question is that God did. Jesus was God’s Son. The sufferingwas unsurpassed, but the whole message of the Bible leads to thisanswer.

The central issue of Jesus’ death is not the cause, but themeaning-God’s meaning. That is what this book is about. John Piperhas gathered from the New Testament fifty reasons. Not fiftycauses, but fifty purposes-in answer to the most important questionthat each of us must face: What did God achieve for sinners like usin sending his Son to die?

 

 The Great Exchange

My Sin for His Righteousness

By Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington

Sinclair Ferguson’s Description: Believers often take for granted the great act of salvationprovided to us by the work of Jesus Christ. Beginning with the OldTestament sacrifices and the prophecies that foreshadowed Christ,authors Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington guide believers through thebiblical overview of Christ’s atonement. The Great Exchange helpsbelievers see how the Old Testament practices tie in with the NewTestament discussion of Christ’s great work of salvation.

As believers work through these principles, they will begin torecognize that even though we deserve condemnation and punishmentfrom a holy God, he has given us the opportunity to experience hisgreat riches through his Son, Jesus Christ. The clear gospelmessage presented throughout the entire book offers a greatappreciation of Christ for believers and an opportunity forsalvation for unbelievers.

In My Place Condemned He Stood

Celebrating the Glory of the Atonement

By J.I. Packer and Mark Dever

Combining three classic articles by J. I. Packer with a recent article by Mark Dever and a foreword by the four principals of Together for the Gospel, this compact yet penetrating anthology takes an unwavering, classically biblical stance on the increasingly controversial doctrine of substitutionary atonement.

An important anthology that reaffirms the classic doctrine of substitutionary atonement and counters the ongoing attacks against it.

If ever there was a time and a need for an enthusiastic reaffirmation of the biblical doctrine of substitutionary atonement, it is now. With this foundational tenet under widespread attack, J. I. Packer and Mark Dever’s anthology plays an important role, issuing a clarion call to readers to stand firm in the truth.

In My Place Condemned He Stood combines three classic articles by Packer——”The Heart of the Gospel”; his Tyndale Biblical Theology Lecture, “What Did the Cross Achieve”; and his introductory essay to John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ—with Dever’s recent article, “Nothing but the Blood.” It also features a foreword by the four principals of Together for the Gospel: Dever, Ligon Duncan, C. J. Mahaney, and Al Mohler. Thoughtful readers looking for a compact classic on this increasingly controversial doctrine need look no further than this penetrating volume.

Pierced for Our Transgressions

Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution

By Steve Jeffery, Michael Ovey, Andrew Sach

Publisher’s Description: The belief that Jesus died for us, suffering the wrath of hisown Father in our place, has been the wellspring of hope forcountless Christians through the ages. However, with an increasingnumber of theologians, church leaders, and even popular Christianbooks and magazines questioning this doctrine, which naysayers havedescribed as a form of “cosmic child abuse,” a fresh articulationand affirmation of penal substitution is needed. And Jeffery, Ovey,and Sach have responded here with clear exposition andanalysis.

They make the case not only that the doctrine is clearly taughtin Scripture, but that it has an impeccable pedigree and a centralplace in Christian theology, and that its neglect has seriousconsequences. The authors also systematically analyze over twentyspecific objections that have been brought against penalsubstitution and charitably but firmly offer a defining declarationof the doctrine of the cross for any concerned reader.

The Gospel for Real Life

Turn to the Liberating Power of the Cross… Every Day

By Jerry Bridges

Publisher’s Description: The gospel of Jesus Christ is the door to eternal life, but what difference does it make once we’re inside God’s kingdom? Jerry Bridges says the gospel is the very lifeblood of our walk with God. Without doubt it is the key to our salvation, but it is also the power for our daily progress in holiness.The Gospel for Real Life will help you:

~Experience freedom from the grip of sin and know the joy of pursuing holiness
~Revel in God’s acceptance of you and participate in His grace as a daily reality
~Expose the subtle acids of legalism in your life and enjoy the liberty of the cross
~Discover how to “preach the gospel to yourself daily” and so partake of its continuous transforming power
~Carry the true fullness of the gospel to a desperately needy world around you

This new paperback edition includes a study guide to help you experience every day “the unsearchable riches of Christ” that are available to us in the gospel.

 Living the Cross Centered Life

Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing

By C.J. Mahaney

What Really Matters 
Have the extremities taken over and left the core of your faith forgotten? Do you get confused by what you feel versus what is real? Let dynamic pastor C. J. Mahaney strip away the nonessentials and bring you back to the simplest, most fundamental reason for your faith: Jesus Christ. This book is packed with powerful truth that will grip your heart, clear your mind, and invigorate your soul. Chapters include “Breaking the Rules of Legalism,” “The Cross Centered Day,” and “Assurance and Joy.” Get ready to behold a breathtaking view of what God intends to accomplish in and through you every day. You’ll discover how embracing this cross centered life is both our highest privilege and greatest responsibility.

His Gift, Your Hope
Do you desire more passion for Jesus Christ? Return to the very essence of your faith—the cross of Christ. Here, the deepest truths of Calvary will stir your passion for Him into an unquenchable fire.

“Never lay it aside. Never move on,” says C. J. Mahaney, who shows you how to center every day around the life-giving reality of the gospel and how to escape the pitfalls of legalism, condemnation, and feelings-driven faith.

 Jesus Plus Nothing Equals Everything

By Tullian Tchividjian

Publisher’s Description: A proclamation of Christ’s sufficiency that frees us from self-righteousness and keeps us anchored through storms.

Jesus + Nothing = Everything is the equation that Tullian Tchividjian took away from a year of great trial and turmoil. In this book he describes the bitter divisions that soured the beginning of his pastorate at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and the personal anchor that he found in the overwhelming power of the gospel. The book of Colossians forms the basis of Tchividjian’s call for Christians to rediscover the gospel and continually reorient their lives around Jesus.

Tchividjian insists that many who assume they understand the gospel fail to actually apply its riches to their lives. He takes particular aim at self-righteousness, which emphasizes moral behavior while ignoring gospel indicatives. In contrast, Tchividjian delivers a strong grip of the gospel and the radical freedom and peace that are only then possible. This book delves into the profound theological truths of the gospel, yet the message is intensely practical–Tchividjian sounds the call for believers to lean hard on Christ in every area of every day.

This post is linked up at Time~Warp Wife

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