Why does Resolved have this effect on me? Because of the sovereignty of God, because of the glory of God taught, breathed and lived at the conference. The gloriousness of God’s sovereignty is made clear and my heart cries out “Holy is the Lord!” As I wrote in my notes after John Piper spoke on God’s Sovereignty Over Satan’s Fall, “I Love God so so Much!” And All to His Glory.

Now to my recap:

Resolved 2009 focused on sin. Yes, nearly 4,000 college-aged students (with a smidgen of older and younger) went to a conference on sin, and not just an American Christian view of sin, but a Puritan Calvinist version of sin. Think about that for a moment. In the culture we live in, such a number should cause one to drop to their knees in worship for it is only by God’s grace.

Going in I expected to be hit over the head with a holy baseball bat Jonathan Edwards style, but instead the speakers focused on equipping us to battle sin.

After Rick Holland started the conference off Friday night with an introduction, Steve Lawson dived right into the topic, preaching out of Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Using an illustration of the great depression, with days nicknamed as black, Lawson declared that the great depression is nothing compared to the black day when Adam sinned against God.

We are spiritual beggars, spiritually homeless, before God said Lawson, and we must file for spiritual bankruptcy in heaven. Connecting verse three with verse six, Lawson said, “you will never hunger for righteousness, you will never thirst for righteousness, without being poor in spirit first.” Quoting Alexander Maclaren, Lawson said, “All that the world commends and pats on the back, Christ condemns, and all that the world shrinks from and dreads, Christ bids us make our own, and assures us that in it we shall find our true blessing.”

Poor in spirit does not mean poverty of money, nor personality. It does not say blessed are the bland. Poor in spirit is “to recognize one’s own spiritual state before [a holy God].”

Later that night C.J. Mahaney unpacked Philippians 2:12-13, calling us to stop praying to God to do all the work and “stir what we got.” We must be active in our sanctification even though we are ultimately passive because, as verse 13 states, it is God who is really at work.

I unfortunately missed Lawson’s sermon on Sunday morning, but having listened to the mp3 I can agree with what my friends and Holland said, that this was the greatest sermon Lawson has ever preached. Speaking on Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” Lawson authoritatively instructed us to focus on our hearts, for sin begins and ends at the desire of the heart.

I also missed John MacArthur’s sermon on Sunday night, though from what I have heard it was nearly identical to his sermon on creation, evolution and global warming at the Shepherd’s Conference.

Sunday night John Piper took to the pulpit and did as he always does, left the attenders in awe of the sovereign majesty of God. Starting off, Piper made the assertion that “every time God does one thing to you He does a million.” The consequences of one act of God upon the universe, specifically to us, are countless, and God has perfectly calculated it all. From there Piper showed the sovereignty of God in Satan’s fall, declaring that God is sovereign over sin yet remains impeccably holy and that everything exists for Christ.

But the quote of his sermon was this, paraphrasing, God does not disarm Satan and destroy him now because by foregoing brute power and working through the death of His Son, Christ is more glorified.

Monday morning Holland gave six Biblical ways to assure purity.

1.Undertake the pursuit of Biblical instruction
(a)Your soul can be preached to by your mind
2.Undress the deception of sexual sin
3.Understand the value of safe distance
(a)It is not how far can I go but how holy can I be.
4.Unmask the regret of sin’s aftermath
(a)You cannot out sin God’s grace
5.Unlock the satisfaction of marital fidelity
(a)Psalm 84:11
6.Unleash the power of God’s omniscience

MacArthur followed with a sermon on the role of Pastors, asserting that Pastors are called to shepherd the flock, not forsake the people of God for the unbeliever, and that scripture is for the elect, the redeemed, and not for the unbeliever for the unbeliever cannot respond to Christ unless regenerated. Therefore, churches who do not preach scripture because they fear it will drive away non-believers are sinning.

In the first of Monday’s night sessions, Mahaney returned to preach about spiritual depression focussing on Psalm 42. Mahaney introduced his sermon by explaining how we talk to ourselves in our heads more than we do with anyone else and so it is crucial that we stop listening to our ourselves and start talking to ourselves.

Have you realized that most of your unhappiness is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself rather than talking to yourself, talking truth to yourself, preaching the gospel to your soul.

Taking it back to the cross as he always does, Mahaney declared, “The psalmist felt forsaken by God, Jesus was forsaken by God.” And, “He was forsaken so we might be forgiven.”

Finishing the conference Piper used Genesis 50:20 to show how the second use of meant does not mean use, it does not say “but God [used] it for good.” Then going to 1 Samuel 12, Piper asked the question “Why give Israel a King,” and Piper answers: One, the kingship in Israel belongs to God, two, to place a line of kings who would fail, except Christ, and three, not only did the king have to be God, he had to die. Moving on Piper asked the question, “why does Satan enter Judas? Why is he leading Christ to Satan’s own end?” Because he saw after three years he could not stop Jesus and because sin is irrational and if you were rational, you wouldn’t sin rationally.

Piper made three profound statements.

God foresaw and did not prevent and therefore ordained that sin come to pass.

If God did not have a hand in the sin that led to the cross there is no gospel.

Paraphrasing: In ordaining the fall (Adam’s sin), Babel, and treason leading to human kings that leads to Christ, all that sin is in order that you might be conformed to Christ.

So that was Resolved 2009. You can download the mp3’s here.

Enfield’s new CD is available on Amazon here as well as this must own song from Sovereign Grace Ministries.