Heaven Will Be Better Than Eden
Eden was never intended to be the end. It was always headed somewhere — somewhere even more glorious: new heavens and a new earth.
Rather than thinking of Eden in terms of perfection, we should think of it in terms of potential. Eden was unspoiled, but it was also unfinished; it was unsullied, but it was also incomplete. As Adam and Eve were fruitful and multiplied, more offspring in the image of God would come to glorify God by enjoying him... Continue Reading
The Persecution Driven Life
"Beware of beholding too much the happiness or misery of this world; for the consideration and too earnest love or fear of either of them draws us from God."
In 2 Timothy 3:12, Paul states, “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Paul was deeply persuaded that conflict is inevitable between the righteousness lives of the saints and those living ungodly lives in the world. This is nothing less than a tension between light and darkness. John... Continue Reading
Successful Parenting
We want our children to thrive, and we want to contribute whatever we can to make that happen.
Parenting, of course, is not a precise recipe. Follow the steps and…voila, out pops a fear-of-the-Lord, covenant-keeping, wise young adult. Such parenting would actually oppose the way God does things. All we would have to do is trust in our steps and everything goes fine. Instead, the (much better) system we have received is one... Continue Reading
The Slide into Sexual Sin
Sexual sin takes its victims through multi-faceted paths of deception and allurement. That’s what makes it so successful.
In our last post on the issue, we looked at 25 consequences of sexual sin. Today, we will briefly look at ways in which individuals slide into sexual sin. Proverbs 7 is a sobering play-by-play of the slide into sexual sin. From it we can make a few observations to prepare ourselves accordingly. Few people set... Continue Reading
10 Things You Should Know about the Garden of Eden
God’s intention to dwell with a holy people in a holy land could not be thwarted by human sin.
God had put this tree in the garden to give Adam and Eve the opportunity to live out genuine faith and obedience. Adam and Eve could have used the wisdom God gave them through his word to judge the Serpent’s lies and rebellion against God as evil, while clinging to God’s goodness. Adam should have... Continue Reading
The Covenant of Works
It is the obedience of Christ that is the ground of our salvation, both in His passive obedience on the cross and His active obedience in His life.
Without Christ’s active obedience to the covenant of works, there is no reason for imputation, there is no ground for justification. If we take away the covenant of works, we take away the active obedience of Jesus. If we take away the active obedience of Jesus, we take away the imputation of His righteousness to... Continue Reading
You Can Say No to Sin
God meets us in that dreadful moment, and tells us how we can meet our sin at the door, hear its desperate pleas, and still say “No.”
When God describes self-control, he doesn’t downplay the agony of it. As Paul writes to Titus, self-control means we must “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions” (Titus 2:12). The word for renounce here is a severe word — the same word Jesus uses when he says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross... Continue Reading
10 Things You Should Know about Jesus Christ
Paul’s letter to the Colossians is fundamentally and essentially about the centrality, supremacy, and preeminence of Jesus Christ in all things.
Who is Jesus Christ? The answer to that question, more than anything else, is what sets apart Christianity from every other religion or philosophy or movement. Christianity is distinctively known for what we believe about Jesus Christ. The answer to this question also provides us with a comprehensive view of the origin, meaning, and ultimate... Continue Reading
Covenant Vows
In Christian relationships, particularly in the home and church, covenant vows serve a serious, necessary purpose.
We tend to make covenant vows, particularly the marriage kind, in the filtered sunlight of a warm (but not hot) spring day. We make them as the sun shines and the flowers bloom. Loved ones smile warmly around us. And the ones with whom we are entering covenant welcome us toward them. But the shining... Continue Reading
Pursuing Godly Progress
While faithfully contending for the faith that was “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), we have to be men and women of progress.
Holding fast to one thing while actively pursuing another is no easy task. That’s why so many, in the sincere desire to be those who grow, leave the truth behind. For those of us for whom historical doctrine is precious, there is the opposite temptation: to remain static (or, we might say, stagnant) in our... Continue Reading