July 20, 2010

Sola Fide & Your Comfort

Christian, take comfort in Christ’s ability to save and not in your ability to believe. J. Gresham Machen says:

“…salvation by faith does not mean that we are saved because we keep ourselves at every moment in an ideally perfect attitude of confidence in Christ. No, we are saved because having once been united to Christ by faith, we are his forever. Calvinism is a very comforting doctrine indeed. Without its comfort, I think I should have perished long ago in the castle of Giant Despair.”

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Justification & Your Response to the Law

As a Christian, what is your response to the demands of the law? Darryl Hart posted an edifying excerpt from Petrus Dathenus’ The Pearl of Christian Comfort on the grounds of the Christians’ assurance.

For even though the law requires perfect righteousness from believers, they refer the demanding law to Christ, in whom they have become the righteousness of God; that is, a righteousness that is acceptable to God (Col. 1:14). If the law demands that believers shall pay for their sins, they refer the law again to Christ who has completely fulfilled all the demands of the law that He also blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, nailing it to His cross (Col. 2:14). That is, He canceled them so that the law can no longer condemn us, no more than it can condemn Christ unto whom we are united, seeing that Christ has delivered us from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13). Paul is therefore correct when he says, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15: 55-57). This proves that in Christ we are not only set free from the strength of the law and of sin, but also from the power and dominion of death and hell.

From this proceeds the spiritual glorying and confidence of Paul, when he exclaims, “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?” (Rom. 8:33-34).

HT: Heidelblog

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June 14, 2010

Calvary Continually Cuts You Down To Size

“Every time we look at the cross Christ seems to say to us, ‘I am here because of you. It is your sin I am bearing, your curse I am suffering, your debt I am paying, your death I am dying.’ Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size.”

- John R. W. Stott, Message of Galatians, 179.

HT: Zach Nielsen

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May 24, 2010

God’s Massive Mercy – Jesus Is The Storm

In Surprised by Grace (pp.51-52) Tullian Tchividjian reminds the reader once again of God’s grace as he reflects on the storm Jonah faced:

This storm tells us that God spares no expense in going after those who run away.

God could easily have raised up someone else to do the work Jonah refused. It’s not like the Lord’s hands were tied or that after sending the storm he kept his fingers crossed, hoping his unruly servant would at last respond. God is never in such weakness. He’s always in the position of authority and control, whether or not we realize it.

The supreme example of this massive mercy is Jesus. The incarnation of Christ tells us most emphatically how God spares nothing in going after those who run away. God’s becoming man is anything but a quiet and subtle response from God to our running from him. It’s a huge and loud statement. It shouts to us that God confronts human flight in the most outspoken, powerful way.

Of all the world’s religions, only in Christianity does God become one of his creatures. God becoming human? That’s massive, deafening—anything but subtle. Jesus is really God’s “great wind,” his “mighty tempest” in response to human running and rebellion. Jesus is the storm. Jesus is God’s gracious intervention for those who are enslaved to themselves. He comes loudly, not subtly, with an aggressive affection to pursue fugitives like you and me.

Click here to find out how you could win a free copy of the newly released Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels OR buy a copy here.

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May 15, 2010

The Gospel Makes Dead People Alive

I’ve not begun to read the book yet, but as I flipped it open randomly only minutes ago this is the first line I read. It is worth sharing, and a truth so very profound.

“Only the gospel can truly save you. The gospel doesn’t make bad people good; it makes dead people alive...the gospel is God’s acceptance of us based on what Christ has done, not on what we can do.” – Tchividjian, Tullian., Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels (p.56)

I’ll be posting some more quotes and excerpts from the book later in the month and thanks to Crossway I”ll be giving away a copy too – so stay tuned!

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April 19, 2010

What’s The Gospel-Driven Life?

Harry Reeder shares some thoughts over the the Ligonier Ministries Blog. Here’s a snippet:

Early in my Christian life, I thought the Gospel was the message to win people to Christ, then, in disciple-making, one moved on to “deeper things.” What a fallacy! You never move beyond the Gospel. You go deeper and higher with the Gospel, but never beyond the Gospel. The Gospel is what defines how to be a Christian man, woman, spouse, parent, and citizen. The Gospel brings the reign of Christ’s kingdom to our hearts and throughout the world. The Gospel blessings give joy to the Christian life and the ability to rejoice even in suffering. The Gospel imperatives direct our new desire to lovingly obey our Lord. The Gospel provides the foundation, the formation, and the motivation as it ignites our loving obedience to Christ as we discover the transforming truth that “He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Be sure to read his entire piece.

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Has Your Church Begun To Assume The Gospel?

…thanks to Justin Taylor here are some diagnostic questions J. Mack Stiles offers in his book Marks of the Messenger: Knowing, Living and Speaking the Gospel (p. 41):

  • Was the gospel in the sermon Sunday morning?
  • Could the uninitiated hear that sermon and come to real faith in Christ?
  • Are gospel principles governing organizational decisions?
  • Do you hear the gospel in people’s prayers?
  • Does your fellowship encourage you to say the gospel? And then is it more than just a memorized sketch? Sure, it may follow the form of “God, Man, Christ, Response,” but is it in people’s own words?
  • Furthermore, do you see it in their actions? Is the gospel lived out?
  • Is membership based on a true commitment to the gospel or just because someone wants to join an organization—or maybe write an expose?

The healthy evangelist is asking these questions and looking for answers so as to guard the gospel. Here is the critical

  • Could you have preached that sermon if Christ had not died on the cross?
  • Could you have developed that leadership principle had Christ not been crucified?

I’m not saying be impractical—the Bible has much to say about being practical—but make sure that the practical is tied to the message of Jesus. Otherwise we are on the road to an assumption that will lose the gospel.

It grieves me that some today, in their zeal against the “cheap grace” gospel can preach a “gospel” without any good news at all, or preach a sermon that sounds more like Moses on Mt. Sinai.

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April 5, 2010

The Power of the Intelligible Word of God

“[Many churches] are forgetting that the power is in the Word of God, not in methods, and that the Word is addressed in the first instance to the mind. The Word was intended by God to be intelligible, and only as we understand it does it get into our bloodstreams and into our hearts, and show up in changed lives.” – R. C. Sproul

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April 2, 2010

Getting The Gospel Right & Getting The Gospel Out

Michael Horton has responded to questions raised over a 2004 interview Modern Reformation published with Rick Warren. Personally, I believe his thoughts on Rick Warren are very helpful, but I thought it pressing to quote his concluding paragraph here:

“Long ago, the evangelist D. L. Moody responded to criticisms of his message and pragmatic methods with the quip, “I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.”  We can be so proud of getting the gospel right while we don’t bother to get the gospel out to those who need it.  Furthermore, we can be self-confident in our theological integrity while ignoring the Word of God when it impinges on questions of social concern.  Yet the answer is not “deeds over creeds,” but to be re-introduced to the creeds that generate the deeds that are the fruit of genuine faith.  Getting the gospel right and getting the gospel out, as well as loving and serving our neighbors, comprise the callings of the church and of Christians in the world. However, confusing these is always disastrous for our message and mission.” – Michael S. Horton

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March 18, 2010

We Can Rest In The Will Of God

Herman Bavinck discussing God’s communicable attributes and specifically the “will” of God concludes:

“…God’s will is identical with his being, his wisdom, his goodness, and with all his attributes. And it is for this reason that man’s heart and mind can rest in that will, for it is the will not of blind fate, incalculable fortune, or dark energy of nature, but of an omnipotent God and merciful Father. His sovereignty is a sovereignty of unlimited power, but it is also a sovereignty of wisdom and grace. He is King and Father at one and the same time.”

The Doctrine of God (p. 235)

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