Sermon: The Blessings of Justification, Pt 1

“The Blessings of Justification” Pt. 1 Romans 5:1-2 August 6, 2017 Proverbs 18:22 says, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing And obtains favor from the Lord.” So the day that Raye Jeanne and I got married, I knew I was a blessed man. Only a little more than a year before we […]

Sermon: Delivered and Resurrected for Us

“The Message of Justification: Delivered and Resurrected for Us” Romans 4:23-25 July 23, 2017 In Geneva, Switzerland, there is a park near the church where John Calvin preached and conducted his ministry. In that park there is a memorial wall containing the statues of 10 of the leading men of the 16th Century Reformation. The […]

Sermon: By Faith Alone, Part 2

“By Faith Alone” Part 2 Romans 4:17-22 July 16, 2017 This week I read this statement by John MacArthur in Justification by Faith Alone: “No doctrine is more important to evangelical theology than the doctrine of justification by faith alone.” That’s a strong statement. J. I. Packer affirmed that statement when he wrote, “Martin Luther […]

Sermon: By Faith Alone

“By Faith Alone” Romans 4:17-22 July 9, 2017 On October 31 this year, we will mark the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses (topics for debate) on the door of the Wittenberg (Castle) Church. Historians typically interpret that event as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. And the Reformation is vital to […]

Sermon: How is One Justified?

“How is One Justified?” Romans 4:13-16 July 2, 2017 I’m a curious person. I always have been. Do you know how young children ask “why?” and “how” incessantly? That’s me. Raye Jeanne didn’t fully comprehend that when we got married. Then in our first year or two of marriage, there was a massive power outage […]

Sermon: Who Can Be Justified?

“Who Can Be Justified?” Romans 4:9-12 April 30, 2017 Put this in the category of unexpected blessings. When Kushikatsu Tanaka was a young girl, her father developed a particular recipe for deep-fried fried meat on a stick. Though he was a real estate agent, he spent many of his leisure hours perfecting the craft of […]

The guilt is gone

Guilt might be the most notorious five-letter word in our culture. Declarations of guilt are minimized — he’s not “guilty,” he’s just “struggling” or he “made a mistake.” And feelings of guilt are suppressed and denied. A New York Times article I found this week captures the cultural attitude towards guilt perfectly: A friend of […]

Sermon: The Old, Old Story, Pt. 2

“The Old, Old Story” Pt. 2 Romans 4:1-8 April 23, 2017 When I was in seminary, the church Raye Jeanne and I were part of trained its members in evangelism with the Evangelism Explosion materials. I went through the program and eventually also became a trainer for EE. One semester, one of my trainees was […]

Sermon: The Old, Old Story

“The Old, Old Story” Romans 4:1-8 April 2, 2017 Every child loves a good story. It was not uncommon that when the girls were still living at home — even when they were in high school — they would ask at the dinner table, “Daddy, tell us a story.” And with a little prompting about […]

The usefulness of justification

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from A Body of Divinity. [What is the usefulness of the doctrine of justification?] Use one: See from hence, that there is nothing within us that could justify, but something without us; not any righteousness inherent, […]

What is justification?

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from A Body of Divinity. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, whereby he pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ, imputed to us, […]

Sermon: God’s Righteousness Questioned (Pt. 2)

“God’s Righteousness Questioned” (Pt. 2) Romans 3:29-31 March 12, 2017 We have been talking much about justification by faith. Are we over-emphasizing this doctrine? So does justification still matter? The answer must be a resounding yes. Nothing matters more than justification by Christ alone through faith alone.… Many attempts have been made to move the […]

Sermon: God’s Righteousness Questioned (Pt. 1)

“God’s Righteousness Questioned” (Pt. 1) Romans 3:27-28 March 5, 2017 This week several of us attended the Shepherds’ Conference. Over four days, we listened to 16-18 sermons. And all the sermons were around the theme, “We Preach Christ.” It might seem remarkable to listen to so many sermons on that one theme. How can you […]

Sermon: God’s Righteousness Revealed (Pt. 4)

“God’s Righteousness Revealed” (Pt. 4) Romans 3:25-26 February 12, 2017 It doesn’t take much for even a believer in Christ to become aware of his past sins and the shame and guilt associated with those sins. Though the sin might have been confessed both to the Lord and the one we sinned against, too often […]

Can we talk too much about justification?

For several weeks we have considered the passage in Romans that one writer has called “the most important paragraph ever written.” It is Romans 3:21-26 and it is perhaps the most concise explanation of the doctrine of justification — how unrighteous men are declared to be righteous before God. Taking four weeks to look at […]