3 Lines in the Sand
Will our authority be the Word of God? Or will it be the sensibilities of our age?
These new challenges actually raise three questions we must consider. The first concerns how this affects us personally. Are we subtly influenced by all of this moral decay? To ask this another way: Have we moved the line because culture is trying to erase the line?” At the turn of the twentieth century, the sciences... Continue Reading
Do Not Fear Growing Old with Him
Why Hope Prevails When Bodies Fail
If we know the Savior’s care for us, and if we believe that he will give grace for every need, then we will rest in the arms of the one who carries us even to our old age (Isaiah 46:3–4). The grace of God enables us to age gracefully. The gospel empowers us to face... Continue Reading
Self-Evident Truths
Each of these essential elements of Jesus’ worldview is something everyone knows.
When I say intuition, I mean something very particular. I don’t mean a hunch. I don’t mean a line of reasoning to a conclusion or a skill learned over time—like the way a seasoned batter “senses” where the next pitch will come. In fact, intuitions are not learned at all. They are something we’re born with, information... Continue Reading
Christ Is Far Better Than Adam
It’s through Christ that lost and rebel sinners are brought to faith and redeemed from the curse of sin.
Christ is the light of life and through his work of redemption, he defeated death. The gospel (good news) is the announcement of the reverse of the curse of Adam. The degeneration of Adam’s curse is overcome by the regeneration of life through Jesus Christ. The gospel denounces sin in the death of Christ and it... Continue Reading
People Disagreed with Jesus about the Bible Too
Jesus’ use of Scripture, then, presumes that the words of the Bible have a determinate meaning that can be read and discerned.
Over and over again in his disputes with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, Jesus appealed to the Scriptures in order to refute his opponents. One classic text is his debate with the Sadducees over whether there is marriage at the time of the Resurrection or not. They posed a “gotcha” question in order to trap... Continue Reading
Is Persisting Sin Our Identity And May We Offer It To God? (1)
"For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate."
It is in light of these verses and others like them that the Reformed churches confess, in Heidelberg Catechism 60, “I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God, and have never kept any of them, and am still prone always to all evil…”. There is much speculation about Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor... Continue Reading
The Christian and Joy
The Reformers caught the centrality of joy in the affections of Christians when they insisted that our chief goal in life is to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
Christians are tempted, of course, to be discouraged and depressed by the force of overwhelming circumstances. But in such circumstances, we must tell ourselves that we have no right to feel the way we do! Paul, who knew what it was to be in prison, to be beaten and spat upon, to be cold shouldered... Continue Reading
The God Who Doesn’t Take Risks: The Comforting Doctrine of Providence
Major Nelson was under the misapprehension that the doctrine would lead to idle thinking and idle action and it took Dr. Dabney’s answer to show him that the reverse was true—it energized believers!
I want to show that it is a no-risk view of providence which alone retains the integrity of the Christian faith in terms of its internal coherence and the comprehensive respecting of the biblical data regarding God’s sovereignty. Here are just a few sample texts which affirm God’s absolute rule, which is accounted for by... Continue Reading
Joyful Sanctification
True progressive sanctification leads away from legalism and toward joy in Christ.
The Christian life has been described as an uphill journey. Others have labeled it as an upstream lifestyle, which is the direct opposite of the lazy lagoon method of so many people who simply go with the flow through life. The world, the flesh, and the devil are actively seeking to pull God’s children off... Continue Reading
Read Like an Apostle
"His disciples remembered that it was written..."
The disciples were interpreting the Old Testament (independent of the New Testament) during the life of our Lord. John’s comment informs us that they started connecting the dots from the Psalms to Jesus while our Lord was on the earth. In other words, their minds were making hermeneutical moves while Christ’s zeal for God’s temple,... Continue Reading