Help for the Doubters
"Is Jesus really alive? How do you know you're in the right religion? What if none of this is true?"
Ultimately, it’s the Holy Spirit alone who can help us fight doubt, because God’s Spirit is the only source of doubt-killing faith. But when I reflect on the ways the Spirit helps me in my doubt, there are four aids He often presents to me, four truths that, no matter how deep my pessimism, I... Continue Reading
Justification and Assurance
To try and snuff out Protestantism, Roman Jesuits focused their attention of the doctrine of Assurance.
An accurate awareness and articulation of the doctrine of the Assurance of Salvation is extremely important to Reformed Theology. We must make it clear that only true believers who live out their faith can be assured of their salvation. The doctrine of assurance does not promote antinomianism, as it is often slandered of doing. The... Continue Reading
Where Would We Be Without TRUTH?
Self-agency and temporal security may be the world’s sly promise, but tyranny over humanity is the tragic end result.
Sadly, this evil world conglomerate has come to dominate today’s global market because of one simple fact: It has capitalized on the current devaluation of biblical stock and a depreciation of the Gospel proclamation. The world’s only legitimate competition, the Truth-bearers of Jesus Christ, have too often shuttered their factories of bold witness and settled... Continue Reading
Jesus Doesn’t Keep the Receipt
In seasons of encroaching darkness and despair, we might wonder if God is reconsidering his purchase.
As our circumstances change, we can sense a greater or lesser experience of God’s love. Seasons of temptation can lead us to think God has forsaken us, while times of abundant blessing may convince us that God loves us, and ordinary days can make us doubt the vitality of his love. We may be tempted... Continue Reading
Do We Have a Sinful Nature? Better to Say, We Have Passions And Desires of the Flesh.
When “sinful passions” encounter God’s standards for life, they entice us to choose evil over good.
A better way to speak of the power of sin comes directly out of Paul. He speaks of the flesh* and its passions and desires. By using such language, we can speak accurately about sin and also discover concrete ways to defeat sin since we will know what it is. We sometimes speak about... Continue Reading
America’s Newest Religion
Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality is not a tool for Christianity, but an entirely separate religion.
A few months ago, it was mentioned here that Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality (CRT/I) collectively, was being embraced by many within professing Christianity. At the 2019 SBC Convention, for example, it was insisted that CRT/I was merely a tool alongside biblical Christianity for the purpose of understanding cultural-sociological issues. However, as many proposed, CRT/I has proved... Continue Reading
If Christians Can Lose Their Salvation, We All Lose The Gospel
Denying the perseverance of the saints has absolutely devastating consequences.
I want to suggest that one crucial doctrine is sometimes relegated to the “good men disagree” category that should sit closer to the heart of orthodox Christianity: perseverance of the saints. Why do I say so? Is it really heresy to reject the doctrine of perseverance, a doctrine often referred to as “eternal security”? I’m... Continue Reading
The Scream: Job, the Abyss and Christ
Why, in a book that is meant to help us see God as we have never seen him before, are we brought face to face with such raw anguish?
Again and again, from Job’s perspective, the God whom he fears seems very far away. Indeed, there are times when this is so much the case that it isn’t just Job’s world that so obviously implodes, his entire mind and psyche appear to disintegrate as well. The book of Job is one of the... Continue Reading
You Are Destined for Suffering, But Not for Wrath
God is sovereign over their suffering and he was sovereign over their salvation.
Jesus told his disciples in the upper room discourse that they would experience affliction in the world (Jn. 16:33). Paul was no stranger to suffering (2 Cor. 11:23ff.), and he knew that following Jesus didn’t make us exempt from disease or disaster. The word Paul used for destined in this verse, keimai, is used throughout... Continue Reading
Loneliness in a Time of Social Distancing
This season has the potential to amplify the ache of loneliness.
Many people feel lonely whether or not they are physically distanced from others. For a lot of us, the challenge of this time is not so much being away from many people but being forced to relate more intensely to just a few people in our own households! Nevertheless, many are aware of a deep... Continue Reading