You Are of Your Father the Devil
The unregenerate do not have the capacity to hear and receive the Words of Christ.
We have no idea when our Lord will return, but He said that He would and so we believe Him. We know also that He revealed that before He returns that there will be a “falling away.” Do you suppose that what we are witnessing in the visible church is that or perhaps, the beginnings... Continue Reading
The Beloved House of God
What used to happen in a sacred tent or majestic temple now happens wherever a local, duly-led congregation of Jesus-followers gathers to worship God.
Psalm 84 is a…is an exuberant love song extolling the place where God draws near and dwells. With a New Testament understanding of God’s House in mind, we may capture the truth like this: “How dearly loved is the gathered church, the House of God!” Two events coincided in our church a few Sundays... Continue Reading
This Messianic Age
Everywhere we look, people have appointed themselves as the savior of others.
As false messiahs and idols always do, they falter, fall down, and fail us. What freedom and joy there is knowing the only One anointed by heaven to save! In their influential book When Helping Hurts on poverty alleviation, Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert speak of the “god complex” or “savior complex” that so many exercise—especially in... Continue Reading
What’s an Exile to Do? Brace Yourself to Face Fiery Trials with Joy
Trials do to our faith what fire does to gold.
Know that our God has His good purposes in our suffering for His will, and that He sets the limits of how intense our suffering is and how long it lasts. Take the Apostle’s approach: do good and, if suffering comes, trust God to refine you and confirm you through it. The sobering truth... Continue Reading
The Heart of God’s Law
Tracing the Ten Commandments to Jesus
When we understand the relationship between the law and the covenant, we can turn afresh to the question of how Christians ought to fulfill these commandments in light of the work of Christ. For centuries, the Christian church has given careful attention to the Ten Commandments. In his commentaries, John Calvin devotes hundreds of... Continue Reading
“Antiracism” Deserves a Capital Letter: A Preview of Voddie Baucham’s Fault Lines
Antiracism has its own cosmology, original sin, law, gospel, martyrs, priests, means of atonement, new birth, liturgy, canon, theologians, and catechism.
Because Antiracism is a definable ideology and new religion, rightly capitalizing it as a proper noun deprives Antiracism of its by-design rhetorical underpinning. In the language of Antiracism, simply being not racist is not enough. Recently on Twitter, a Ph.D. student at a Southern Baptist seminary threw shade at Voddie Baucham’s upcoming book Fault Lines for... Continue Reading
I Think We are Killing the Wrong People
The Bible does not sanction the killing of babies in the womb. However, the Bible does sanction capital punishment of adults who are guilty of the crime of murder.
The Bible is clear about ways to love our neighbor that are very practical and not just pious words. The question is not whether someone is going to die, but the question is who is going to die. I am afraid that emotions fueled by modern sentimentality, and prevailing misconceptions of love, rule men more... Continue Reading
The Problem of the Premise
If you begin with a faulty cause premise the argument fails, and good intentions cannot and will not rescue it.
By framing the cause of racism as “whiteness” it makes it an ethnically ancestral sin that condemns all in that tribe both past, present, and future. It means guilt without redemption. Unfortunately, if a voice of objection to this faulty reasoning it is raised it is met with the response that the objection only proves... Continue Reading
Why is Inseparable Operations Such a Hard Sell?—The Trinity and Inseparable Operations
The doctrine of inseparable operations affirms that the triune persons act as a single agent externally, while internally their operations are divided.
The doctrine of the Trinity ultimately rests on the biblical datum of inseparable operations. But the reverse is also true: triune unity necessarily implies the inseparability of God’s external operations. For both teachers and pastors, the doctrine of the Trinity has been one of the most demanding topics, often resulting in glazed-over student eyes,... Continue Reading
I Will Not Offer the Lord What Costs Me Nothing
Powerful preaching comes from praying preachers.
How long does it take to prepare a sermon? As long as it takes. Get in the seat. Gather your tools. Go to work. And don’t quit until the hard work is done. Think about it. You have left the pulpit feeling bad that you did not prepare better. But you never leave the pulpit... Continue Reading
