Book Review: A Passion for God

Title: A Passion for God: the Spiritual Journey of A. W. Tozer Author: Lyle Dorsett Publisher: Moody Press, 2008; 189 pp. $14.95 Recommendation (4-star scale): Shortly after beginning seminary, I purchased a small anthology of A. W. Tozer’s works. I did not need to read long before I was taken by this writer. I knew […]

Today’s Quote – Scripture (Sibbes)

Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed: All sin is either from false principles, or ignorance, or thoughtlessness, or unbelief of what is true.…It is good, therefore, to store up true principles in our hearts, and to refresh them often, that, in virtue of them, our affections and actions may be more vigorous.

Today’s Quote – Depravity (Edwards)

Jonathan Edwards, quoted in The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards: My wickedness, as I am in myself, has long appeared to me perfectly ineffable, and infinitely swallowing up all thought and imagination; like an infinite deluge, or infinite mountains over my head. I know not how to express better, what my sins appear to me […]

Today’s Quote – Common Grace (Frame)

John Frame, The Doctrine of God: God prevents fallen men from doing all the wrong they could do. He places a mark on Cain, so that others will not take his life (Gen. 4;15). He confuses the languages of men during the building of the tower of Babel, lest “nothing they plan to do will […]

Book Review: Spectacular Sins

Yesterday evening I was telling Elizabeth that I’d read John Piper’s latest book, Spectacular Sins, on the plane trip to visit my Dad and brother this weekend. “Spectacular sins?” she queried in response. “Is John Piper still okay?” So I explained the title — it is not that he is inferring that the sins in […]

Packer and Owen on mortification

Having written several blogs on the topic of mortification, and one specific review of John Owen’s masterpiece, On the Mortification of Sin, I was intrigued to read a short piece today by J. I. Packer on the influence of Owen on his own life. Packer has written several introductions to various Puritan works, along with […]

Today’s Quote (8/27/08)

From one of my all-time favorite books, The Pursuit of Holiness (Jerry Bridges): We cannot escape the fact that God hates our sins. We may trifle with our sins or excuse them, but God hates them. Therefore every time we sin, we are doing something God hates. He hates our lustful thoughts, our pride and […]

Self-righteousness, judgmentalism, and confronting sin

I’ve been listening to an excellent pair of sermons this week by Dave Harvey, entitled “The Surgeon, the Scalpel, and the Saint in Sin.” Preaching from Luke 6:27-36, Harvey addresses the question of how to confront a sinning believer without becoming self-righteous and judgmental ourselves. His basic premise is: “The manner in which we respond […]

Sin’s delusion

From Thomas Fuller: Lord, often have I thought to myself, I will sin but this one sin more, and then I will repent of it, and of all the rest of my sins together. So foolish was I, and ignorant. As if I should be more able to pay my debts when I owe more: […]

A few more thoughts about sin and salvation

A few years ago I came across the first addendum of sins that the Roman Catholic church added to its official list of sins compiled at the Council of Trent in 1545. Some of the new offenses? Failing to vote. Drunken driving. Forging checks. Charging unjust rents. Paying unfair salaries. Wasting resources (like pampering pets). […]

A few more thoughts about sin

As I was preparing for our study last night, I pulled my files on sin, and was going through the quotations and illustrations I have amassed over a number of years about sin and sinfulness. What I found was a large quantity of truths about sin said very succinctly and well. Since there was no […]

Sunday Leftovers (7/6/08)

Yesterday I was attempting to make the point that our understanding of the weight and significance of our own sin is immeasurably weak. In a sermon recently preached at Resolved, John Piper expands that idea by illustrating how the weakness and frailty of the physical creation is designed to demonstrate to us the horror of […]

Bridges on Respectable Sins

Jerry Bridges has been writing thought-provoking, challenging, stimulating, exhorting books for believers in Christ for about 25 years. Several of his books have been at the top of my “recommended reading” books for many years: The Pursuit of Holiness The Practice of Godliness Trusting God (republished in a shorter version as Is God Really in […]

On the reasons for great sin

Dwight Edwards was the pastor of Grace Bible Church in College Station, TX until he failed morally and resigned several years ago. In the great grace of God, repentance was wrought in his heart, as he recently shared in his testimony (search using his last name to find the audio). What contributed to his failure? […]

Enduring with Christ When Others Sin Against You

At the recent Desiring God Conference, “Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints,” Jerry Bridges addressed the topic of how to endure, even when others sin against you: “Life is frequently difficult, and it’s sometimes painful. And if you live long enough, you will experience both difficulties and pain. And if you want […]