How Does God See Me?
The only thing that will ever stand before God is the perfect righteousness, holiness and satisfaction of Christ put on my account.
It isn’t how much I loved God in this life. It is how much Jesus loved God. It isn’t how much I desired God or lived a life of Christian hedonism. It is HIS perfect righteousness, faith, and obedience, put on my account. It isn’t how much I persevered or how tightly I held on.... Continue Reading
What the Psalms Teach Us About Giving Thanks
The psalms of thanksgiving are closely tied to another genre, the psalms of lament.
When it comes to giving thanks today, the Psalms show us how thanksgiving is an essential part of our corporate and private worship. These psalms remind us that when God provides for us, answers a prayer, delivers us, we need to return thanks to him. We can be quick to seek his help and cry... Continue Reading
Please Don’t Rob My Assurance
If you tell me I need to add something to get to heaven on top of what Christ has done, I think you're wrong.
This is why the doctrine of imputation is so precious to me. I still remember the day when it clicked as I was raking leaves and listening to R.C. Sproul. A huge weight that I had been carrying for years rolled off my soul. The covenant of works that I had been laboring to fulfill... Continue Reading
A Royal Priesthood, Divinely Identified
God has declared and identified us to be a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, a royal priesthood, a kingdom and priests to our God
I find that many Christians have a similar identity crisis in their spiritual lives. They act like sinners, rather than the saints whom God has justified. They act like orphans, rather than the adopted sons and daughters of God. They act like outsiders, rather than the holy priests that God has called them to be.... Continue Reading
The Stupidity of Sin
Sin makes us stupid.
When we are thinking rationally, we can see the insanity of sin. Why would anyone throw away a livelihood, a family, or a reputation for a 30-minute roll in the hay? What good will it do to seek revenge, and feel satisfied for an afternoon, if it means reaping a whirlwind of consequences for decades?... Continue Reading
Both/And: Free Justification And Gracious Sanctification
Good works are the necessary, (super)natural consequences of God’s saving grace but they are not sanctification itself.
During the Reformation (and after), our critics in Rome and among the Anabaptists agreed that the Reformation message of salvation by grace alone through faith alone must be rejected because it will not produce the desired results. They were quite plain about this. The Reformation churches (Reformed and Lutheran), however, were convinced that sanctity, and... Continue Reading
The Serpent-Conquering Last Adam And True Israel
In that first great prophecy of biblical revelation, God promised to send a Redeemer who would crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15).
At the cross, Jesus “crushed the head” of the great Serpent of old, and “disarmed principalities and powers…making a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them” (Col. 2:13-14). The death of Jesus was the exorcism of all exorcisms–namely, the casting out the evil one (John 12:31-33). From the wilderness to the cross, Jesus was showing... Continue Reading
Romans 2:13: Justified Through Our Faithfulness?
The Synod of Dort asserted: We get in [to salvation] by grace and we stay in [salvation] by grace.
For Calvin, this passage is law, an expression of God’s righteous demand. Anyone who would present himself to God on the basis of the law must actually keep the law. The only thing that satisfies justice is actual, complete, perfect fulfillment of the law. The slightest disobedience to God’s holy law merits only one thing:... Continue Reading
3 Tips for Coping with Today’s Biggest Threat to Mental Health
Loneliness is an even greater public health hazard than obesity.
In a world of exponentially increasing virtual connections, this reality is probably easier to forget than ever before. I, for one, am relearning it, thanks to a women’s group that meets weekly to study the spiritual disciplines. Those in-the-flesh conversations with other women from all walks of life are sacred opportunities to experience God in deeply... Continue Reading
Preaching the Psalms to Ourselves
The book of Psalms shows us right theology, and how good theology leads us to have sound worship and right living before the face of the Lord.
Whether you are in a season of blessing or a season where you feel beaten up and crushed, the Psalms have something for you. The book of Psalms is a collection of men pouring out God-besotted truth before the face of the Lord. The result of their prayers and pleas to the Lord was not... Continue Reading