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 […]
Read More A few more thoughts about sinThe seven statements of Christ from the cross serve as a reminder not only of what is important to Christ as He contemplates and evaluates the cross, but they also serve as an anchor for our faith, directing us to the truths to which we must hold fast in defending that faith. For instance, the […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (7/13/08)In response to a question Tuesday night about what the Jews at the time of Christ would have understood and believed about baptism, I did a little theological digging. Information is minimal, at best. The NT says nothing about the Jewish understanding of baptism directly, and the Greek translation of the OT (called the Septuagint) […]
Read More Baptism at the time of ChristAs we discussed the Holy Spirit last night, we gave just passing comments to the issue of how the Holy Spirit can be blasphemed. While I do not believe that particular sin can be replicated today, the Holy Spirit can still be grieved today. How is the Holy Spirit grieved? My favorite commentator answers: The […]
Read More A few more thoughts about the Holy SpiritYesterday 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 […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (7/6/08)Last night we spent more time discussing issues related to the cross than I had intended. Our comments surfaced a number of questions and issues that relate to why I have been preaching the sermon series that I have been preaching for the past 3 months. In a simple sentence, the cross and the work […]
Read More A few more thoughts on ChristologyIn his book, Things Which Become Sound Doctrine (a book which I regularly reference), J. Dwight Pentecost notes the following truths about justification: God is the source of justification (Rom. 8:30) Blood is the ground of justification (Rom. 3:24-26) Faith is the instrument of justification (Rom. 3:28; 4:5) Grace is the essence of justification (Rom. […]
Read More Elements of justificationIt’s easy and tempting to read the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector and presume that I am safe from self-righteousness and that the account is given for someone unlike me. In truth, all men tend towards self-righteousness (it’s called “pride,” in its most basic form). And that tendency is dangerous. Self-righteous people […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (6/29/08)Speaking of prayer… In studying for my sermon for last Sunday, I came across these three statements about the value, importance, and power of prayer: Thomas Lyle: “I had rather stand against the canons of the wicked than against the prayers of the righteous.” Thomas Watson: “The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it […]
Read More On the power of prayerIt is not unusual for me to leave out things from a sermon that I had originally intended to say. It is unusual that I intentionally leave out as much as I did Sunday. I not only left out a complete point, accounting for a full page of notes (out of about 3-1/2 pages total), […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (6/22/08)During class the other night, I was trying to reconstruct from memory the comments made by J. I. Packer in an interview I’d read earlier in the week. The interview is no longer available on the web, but here is part of what Packer said about trying to explain the Trinity. His comments are both […]
Read More A few more thoughts on the TrinityGalatians says much about the Fatherhood of God, but not everything. One more truth that is found elsewhere is this: God loves and is (and always will be) “well-pleased” with His Son (2 Pt. 1:17); we are in His Son (Eph. 1:17; Col. 2:20) — therefore He loves us with a Son-like love! The pleasure […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (6/15/08)Since my sabbatical I have slowed down on my “leisure” reading and on writing some book reviews. However, I have come across two book reviews of books I’ve recently read that I’ve found very helpful, but haven’t had time to review myself. So here they are: John Piper, The Future of Justification (review) Milton Vincent, […]
Read More Some book reviewsAs I was reading again in Tozer’s The Knowledge of the Holy earlier this week, I came across these two sentences in his chapter on God’s holiness: Until we have seen ourselves as God sees us, we are not likely to be much disturbed over conditions around us as long as they do not get […]
Read More Holiness — or the lack thereofIt’s finally summer. I realize that the first day of summer officially is June 20 this year (at 6:59 CDT, to be exact). But school is out. It’s June. It’s hot. And my lawn has already stopped growing. It’s summer. And that got me thinking. I have three months of summer ahead of me, roughly […]
Read More A summer opportunity
