Saving Faith is Never Alone
February 19th, 2010
“Justification causes our happiness, sanctification evidences it.”
- Thomas Watson (From his excellent book, The Beatitudes)
Archive
Archive for the ‘Theology’ Category
Doctrines of Grace
February 19th, 2010
Excellent explanation by Dr. Steve Lawson on the doctrines of grace…
Done Before Do
December 12th, 2009
I firmly believe that Scriptures and the Gospel instructs those who desire to teach God’s Word must understand that they must always herald “done” before they can encourage “do”. I have seen and heard too many teachers today that are legalistic in their preaching of the commands of Scripture without first heralding the glorious doctrines of Christ’s cross-work so that Christians may rest on what has and is accomplished solely by Christ in order to be able to do what Scripture commands in respect to the sanctification of believers. We are all prone to legalism and therefore the teacher of God’s Word (who will be held more accountable) must be ever vigilant to guard against a proclamation of “do” without first proclaiming the glorious “done”!
Solus Christus!
The Glorious Incarnation of Christ
December 1st, 2009
As we move through this Advent season may we meditate on the glorious truth of the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” (John 1:1-3)
“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
“For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
Soli Deo Gloria!
What About the Innocent Native?
September 16th, 2009
I am blessed to be able to teach a systematic theology course at my church once a year as part of our discipleship training. As with any teacher who teaches the same course over and over, you find that there are questions that always come up each term. One of the most asked questions with regards to salvation is “what about the people who never hear about Jesus and the gospel?”. That is a legitimate question and one that deserves a good, Biblical answer. The fine folks over at monergism.com have provided an excellent page that explains quite well the Biblical answer to that question. Before you head over to read the article I’d encourage you to consider this question: is it not hearing the gospel that sends someone to hell or is it our sin? Hmmmm….
The Second Commandment
July 19th, 2009
Exodus 20:4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
God’s word is very clear that any image of God is prohibited. God is triune and that includes any image of the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit. God is spirit and cannot be made into an image – He is beyond our ability to form any kind of image or statue. However, I hear the argument that Christ was a man so we can have pictures and statues of Him. But are we forgetting that Christ is also fully God and while we can portray Him as a man (although the Bible gives absolutely no indication of what He looked like – hmmm… I wonder why!) He is also fully God and painting an image of Him would only illustrate His humanity and not deity. I am always struck by the fact that not one of the gospel writers ever described what Christ looked like. Not even the color of His eyes or hair or even how he walked or what His voice sounded like. The inspired Word of God illustrates the very importance of the second commandment in the New Testament by never once describing Christ’s appearance. (Outside of the amazing symbolic appearance John receives in Revelation which in context must be taken symbolically.) Brian Schwertley has written an outstanding article on images of Christ which can be found here.
I have gotten into many debates with folks on this and for some reason it seems to be a hot button topic with folks – even those in reformed circles who historically have been very strong against images of Christ. The mentality seems to be that since churches have allowed images of Christ for so long that it must be OK. But what matters is what God says – not what the populace has settled down with. Do you think that images of Christ break the second commandment? Do paintings like “The Last Supper” and even famous paintings like “The Creation of Man” by Michelangelo break God’s second commandment?
So… what say you great visitors of this blog?
A Righteousness Not Our Own
June 20th, 2009
Religion is fashionable in our age. But is it that which sprang up, after centuries of darkness, among our fathers in Europe? Is it that of apostles and prophets? Is it the calm yet thorough religion which did such great deeds in other days? Has it gone deep into the conscience? Has it filled the heart? Has it pervaded the man? Or has it left the conscience unpacified, the heart unfilled, the man unchanged, save with some external appliances of religiousness, which leaves him hollow as before? There is at this moment many an aching spirit, bitterly conscious of this hollowness. The doctrine, the profession, the good report of others, the bustle of work, will not fill the soul. God Himself must be there, with His covering righteousness, His cleansing blood, His quickening Spirit. Without this, religion is but a shell: holy services are dull and irksome. Joy in God, which is the soul and essence of worship, is unknown. Sacraments, prayer-meetings, religious services, labours of charity, will not make up for the living God.
Men with their feet firmly set on Luther’s rock, “the righteousness of God,” filled with the Spirit, and pervaded with the peace of God, do the great things in the church; others do the little. The men of robust spiritual health are they who, like Luther, have made sure of their filial relationship to God. They shrink from no battle, nor succumb to any toil. The men who go to work with an unascertained relationship give way in the warfare, and faint under the labour: their life is not perhaps a failure or defeat; but it is not a victory, it is not a triumph…
…By faith we choose affliction with the people of God, and despise Egypt’s treasures. By faith we keep our passover; pass through the Red Sea; overthrow Jerichos; subdue kingdoms; work righteousness; stop the mouth of lions; quench the violence of fire; turn to flight the armies of the aliens, and refuse deliverance in the day of trial, that we may obtain a better resurrection (Hebrews 11:35).
It is “believing” from first to last. We begin, we go on, we end in faith. The faith that justifies is the faith that overcomes (1 John 5:4). By faith we obtain the “good report” both with God and man. By faith we receive forgiveness; by faith we live; by faith we work, and endure, and suffer; by faith we win the crown,—a crown of righteousness, which shall be ours in the day of the appearing of Him who is OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
-Taken from The Everlasting Righteousness by Horatius Bonar, 1873.
A Few Items for Your Noodle…
May 24th, 2009
- Nicholas Batzig has penned an outstanding article on the obedience of Christ that everyone should take a moment to read. It’s an excellent small article on the glory of Christ as the obedient second Adam. Check it out over at Reformation21.
- My pastor and I have decided to give a weekly internet radio on theological discussions a try. So far we’ve been having a blast. We’ve called it Puritan Voices – take a listen. Would love to get your feedback/suggestions. (Neither of us have a clue what we are doing when it comes to radio production but we love to talk about Christ so that was enough for us! <grin>)
- A Mennonite gospel tract gets it right.
- The fine Christians over at “I’ll Be Honest” have created a simple and Christ-centered web site.
- What is happening to the church? Dear Lord and Father forgive our foolish ways.
Religious Affections
April 2nd, 2009
“One reason why people with holy affections are given to holy practice is because what they seek is God Himself, solely for the excellency of who He is, and not whatever good uses or ends the knowledge of God might bring them. If a person seeks God only for the benefits He brings us, once those benefits disappear or fail to materialize, one’s hunger for God likewise diminishes. This is why gracious affections will enable men to persevere in the pursuit of godliness even when it is painful to do so. If the pursuit of godliness comes at great cost to a person’s comfort and private interests, the unregenerate will abandon the former for the sake of the latter. But he who loves God for God’s own sake will be so impelled by the beauty and excellency of His divine nature that no degree of trial or loss will impede him.”
- Signs of the Spirit, An Interpretation of Edward’s Religious Affections by Sam Storms
Once Saved Always Saved?
March 2nd, 2009
Understanding “Once Saved Always Saved”
This term has been misused by folks in thinking that once you pray a prayer or walk an isle you are “in the club” and you quite simply cannot lose your salvation. The key to understanding this statement is to understand where the term came from. The early reformers had a series of statements about the doctrines of grace and one of those statements was called “perseverance of the saints”. This statement affirmed the Biblical truths that someone who is truly saved cannot lose their salvation. The reason? The reformers rightly understood that before we are saved we are dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1) and a dead person can no more respond to the gospel than a corpse can talk. It takes a supernatural work of God to cause a sinner to be born again, or “born from above” in order for that dead person to be able to respond to the gospel call. The Westminster Confession of Faith rightly states, “They, whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.” Jesus clearly taught that one must be born again before they can enter the kingdom of heaven. God causes spiritual rebirth as a gracious, sovereign choice. So the reformers understanding was very Biblical in that they taught that a true believer is kept by God and that believer will persevere because the Holy Spirit will cause that person to continue in the faith even amongst the strongest persecution and temptation.
The Excellency of Election
February 24th, 2009
“Oh the excellency of the doctrine of election, and of the saints’ final perseverance, to those who are truly sealed by the Spirit of promise! I am persuaded, till a man comes to believe and feel these important truths, he cannot come out of himself; but when convinced of these, and assured of the application of them to his own heart, he then walks by faith indeed, not in himself but in the Son of God, who died and gave himself for him. Love, not fear, constrains him to obedience.”
- George Whitefield (1714-1770)
Christ Despised
December 23rd, 2008
“He is despised and rejected by men” (Isaiah 53:3). For the special benefit of young preachers, we propose to sermonize this text, though in as simple and homely a manner as possible, trusting that it may please the Lord to speak through it to some unsaved readers, for we dare not assume that all who take this magazine have really been born again.
Our text forms part of one of the Messianic predictions, in which God made know long beforehand the treatment which his Son would receive when He became incarnate.
The prophecy of Isaiah was in the hands of the Jews seven hundred years before the Lord Jesus was born at Bethlehem—yet so exactly did it describe what befell Him, that it might well have been written by one of the Apostles. Therein is supplied one of the incontrovertible proofs of the Divine inspiration of the Scriptures, for only One who knew the end from the beginning, could have thus written history beforehand.
It might well have been supposed that the advent to earth of such a One as the Lord of Glory, would meet with a warm welcome and reverent reception, the more so in view of His appearing in human form, going about doing good. Since He came not to judge—but to save; since His mission was one of grace and mercy, since He ministered to the needy and healed the sick—will not men gladly receive Him? Many would naturally think so—but in so thinking they overlook the fact that the Lord Jesus is “the Holy One,” and none but those who have the principle of holiness in their hearts, can appreciate ineffable Purity. Such an assumption as the one we have just mentioned, ignores the solemn fact of human depravity—the heart of fallen man is “desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9). How can the Holy One appear attractive to those who are full of sin!? Nothing so clearly evidences the condition of the human heart, and so solemnly demonstrates its corruption, as its attitude toward the precious Savior.
There is much recorded against man in the Old Testament Scriptures, as for example in Psalm 14:1-4; yet dark as is the picture there drawn of fallen human nature, it fades into insignificance before what the New Testament sets before us. “The carnal mind is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7), and never was this so frightfully patent, as when Jesus was manifested in flesh. “If I had not come,” declared Christ, “and spoken unto them, they had not had sin—but now they have no cloak for their sin” (John 15:22). The appearing of Christ has fully exposed man, bringing to light as nothing else ever has—the desperate wickedness of his heart!
Now let us ask and supply answer to three questions—Who was (and still is) “despised and rejected by men?” Why is He so grievously slighted? In what way is He scorned? Who was so unwelcome here?
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