Order our unruly wills...

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills & affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command & desire what you promise; that among the swift & varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives & reigns with You & the Holy Spirit. One God, now & forever, Amen

- A Book of Common Prayer

Living in Our Blessed Hope

"The true Scriptural source of consolation, in the face of all that troubles us, is to keep steadily before our eyes the second coming of Christ.

"We must grasp and realize the blessed fact that the rightful King of the world is returning soon, and shall have His own again; that He shall put down that old usurper, the devil, and take away the curse from off the earth.

"Let us cultivate the habit of daily looking forward to the resurrection of the dead, the gathering together of the saints, the restitution of all things, the banishment of sorrow and sin, and the re-establishment of a new kingdom, of which the rule shall be righteousness."

— J. C. Ryle
“Looking Unto Jesus”

Brother, are you boring?....

Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

I put next something which is meant partly to correct, or perhaps not so much to correct, as to safeguard, what I have been saying, from misunderstanding. I refer to the element of ‘liveliness.’ This underlines the fact that seriousness does not mean solemnity, does not mean sadness, does not mean morbidity. These are all very important distinctions. The preacher must be lively; and you can be lively and serious at the same time.

Let me put this in other words. The preacher must never be dull, he must never be boring; he should never be what is called ‘heavy.’ I am emphasizing these points because of something I am often told and which worries me a great deal. I belong to the Reformed tradition, and may have had perhaps a little to do in Britain with the restoration of this emphasis during the last forty years or so. I am disturbed therefore when I am often told by members of churches that many of the younger Reformed men are very good men, who have no doubt read a great deal, and are very learned men, but they are very dull and boring preachers; and I am told this by people who themselves hold the Reformed position.

This is to me a very serious matter; there is something radically wrong with dull and boring preachers. How can a man be dull when he is handling such themes? I would say that a ‘dull preacher’ is a contradiction in terms; if he is dull he is not a preacher. He may stand in a pulpit and talk, but he is certainly not a preacher. With the grand theme and message of the Bible dullness is impossible. This is the most interesting, the most thrilling, the most absorbing subject in the universe; and the idea that this can be presented in a dull manner makes me seriously doubt whether the men who are guilty of this dullness have ever really understood the doctrine they claim to believe, and which they advocate. We often betray ourselves [by] our manner.

(Preaching and Preachers, 86-87 [emphasis added])

HT: Kevin DeYoung

Repentance: Not Perfection, but 'Taking Sides'...

“[The truths relating to a genuine conversion do not mean] that a Christian will never sin.

“Repenting of sin doesn’t necessarily mean that you stop sinning – certainly not altogether, and often not in particular areas, either. Christians are still fallen sinners even after God gives us new spiritual life, and we will continue to struggle with sin until we are glorified with Jesus (see, e.g., Gal. 5:17; 1 John 2:1).

“But even if repentance doesn’t mean an immediate end to our sinning, it does mean that we will no longer live at peace with our sin. We will declare mortal war against it and dedicate ourselves to resisting it by God’s power on every front in our lives.

“Many Christians struggle hard with this idea of repentance because they somehow expect that if they genuinely repent, sin will go away and temptation will stop. When that doesn’t happen, they fall into despair, questioning whether their faith in Jesus is real.

“It’s true that when God regenerates us, he gives us power to fight against and overcome sin (1 Cor. 10:13). But because we will continue to struggle with sin until we are glorified, we have to remember that genuine repentance is more fundamentally a matter of the heart’s attitude toward sin that it is a mere change of behavior. Do we hate sin and war against it, or do we cherish it and defend it?

“One writer put this beautifully: ‘The difference between an uncoverted and converted man is not that the one has sins and the other has none; but that the one takes part/[sides] with his cherished sins against a dreaded God, and the other takes part/[sides] with a reconciled God against his hated sin.’”

-- Greg Gilbert, “What Is the Gospel?” pp. 81-82, quoting William Arnot, “Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth” (London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1884), 311.

Knowing About God...Knowing God

J.I. Packer on a key difference, sadly, between evangelicals and the Puritans:

Whereas to the Puritans communion with God was a great thing, to evangelicals today it is a comparatively small thing.

The Puritans were concerned about communion with God in a way that we are not.

The measure of our unconcern is the little that we say about it.

When Christians meet, they talk to each other about their Christian work and Christian interests, their Christian acquaintances, the state of the churches, and the problems of theology—but rarely of their daily experience of God.

Modern Christian books and magazines contain much about Christian doctrine, Christian standards, problems of Christian conduct, techniques of Christian service—but little about the inner realities of fellowship with God. Our sermons contain much sound doctrine—but little relating to the converse between the soul and the Saviour.

We do not spend much time, alone or together, in dwelling on the wonder of the fact that God and sinners have communion at all; no, we just take that for granted, and give our minds to other matters.

Thus we make it plain that communion with God is a small thing to us.

But how different were the Puritans! The whole aim of their ‘practical and experimental’ preaching and writing was to explore the reaches of the doctrine and practice of man’s communion with God.

—J. I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness (Crossway, 1994), p. 215 (chapter 12).

HT: Justin Taylor

Jesus Re-establishes the Divine & Human Rule

“Jesus as King…reestablished human rule over the angelic and natural orders. He lived out everything that it means to be human, establishing himself as a wise ruler with dominion over his own appetites, with a will, affections, and conscience guided by the direction of his Father – and not by that of Satan. He walked through human suffering, temptation, and, ultimately, the curse of death itself – standing in the place of wrath itself – to wrest humanity from the Accuser’s fingers.”

-- Russell Moore, "Don't Call It a Comeback" (Kevin DeYoung, ed.) [Crossway], p. 122

A Concern Relating to Small Groups

Here's an interview with J.I. Packer: "Fighting Heresy in Churches and Small Groups"

Emperor of the Cosmos

"The mission of Christ starts and ends not just in the announcement of forgiveness of sins or the removal of condemnation -- although both of these things are true and essential. The mission of Christ starts and ends with the announcement that God has made Jesus emperor of the cosmos -- and he plans to bend the cosmos to fit Jesus' agenda, not the other way around."

-- Russell Moore, in "Don't Call It a Comeback" (Crossway), p. 119

Pro-life Apologetics for the Next Generation

A helpful post from Scott Klusendorf on four ways Christian leaders can help the next generation think clearly about the most pressing moral issue of our day:

1. Clarify the nature of moral reasoning.
2. Clarify the one question that really matters.
3. Clarify the scientific and philosophic case for life.
4. Clarify the path to forgiveness.

Read the whole thing.

(from Justin Taylor)

Robert P. George on "Roe vs. Wade"

Here is an excerpt from Justin Taylor's interview with Robert P. George, a professor at Princeton University:

"The legal problem with Roe v. Wade is simple: The Supreme Court’s decision to invalidate state laws prohibiting or restricting abortion lacks any basis in the text, logic, structure, or original understanding of the Constitution of the United States. The late John Hart Ely, a famous legal scholar who himself supported legal abortion as a matter of public policy, said that Roe v. Wade “is not constitutional law and gives almost no sense of an obligation to try to be.” The justices who manufactured a right to abortion in Roe violated and dishonored the very Constitution they purported to interpret by substituting their own moral and political judgments for those of the elected representatives of the people. Their ruling was a gross usurpation by the judiciary of the authority vested by the Constitution in the people themselves, acting through the constitutionally prescribed institutions of republican democracy. As dissenting Justice Byron White put it, Roe was nothing more than an exercise of “raw judicial power.” It was not merely an incorrect decision, but an anti-constitutional one."

You can read the entire interview here.

Zeal fueled by knowledge....

"...We need passion, a zeal fueled by knowledge (Rom. 10:2). Young people want to see that our faith actually matters to us. They are like Ben Franklin when asked why he was going to hear George Whitefield preach. 'You don't even believe what he says,' people told Franklin. To which he replied, "I know. But he does.'

"If our evangelical faith is boring to us, it will be boring to others. If the gospel is old news to you, it will be dull to everyone else.

"We cannot pass on what we do not feel...."

-- Kevin DeYoung, "Don't Call It a Comeback" (Crossway 2011) p. 23

...The same yesterday, today and forever....

"Unbelief says: Some other time, but not now; some other place, but not here; some other people, but not us. Faith says: Anything He did anywhere else He will do here; anything He did any other time He is willing to do now; anything He ever did for other people He is willing to do for us! With our feet on the ground, and our head cool, but with our heart ablaze with the love of God, we walk out in this fullness of the Spirit, if we will yield and obey. God wants to work through you!”

-- A.W. Tozer

God's Empowering Presence

“…the Spirit’s major role in Paul’s view of things lies with his being the absolutely essential constituent of the whole of Christian life, from beginning to end. The Spirit thus empowers ethical life in all of its dimensions – personal, corporate, and in the world. Believers in Christ, who for Paul are 'Spirit people' first and foremost, are variously described as living by the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, bearing the fruit of the Spirit, and sowing to the Spirit…the Spirit conforms the believer into the likeness of Christ to the glory of God for living the life of God in the present.”

- Gordon Fee, Miscellaneous Writings

Do You Recognize the Extraordinary in God's Ordinary Providence?

"Clarence Macartney told the story about Dr. John Witherspoon . . . a signer of the Declaration of Independence and president of the (then) College of New Jersey. He lived a couple of miles away from the college at Rocky Hill and drove horse and rig each day to his office at the college.

“One day one of his neighbors burst into his office, exclaiming, ‘Dr. Witherspoon, you must join me in giving thanks to God for his extraordinary providence in saving my life, for as I was driving from Rocky Hill the horse ran away and the buggy was smashed to pieces on the rocks, but I escaped unharmed!’

“Witherspoon replied, ‘Why, I can tell you a far more remarkable providence than that. I have drive over that road hundreds of times. My horse never ran away, my buggy never was smashed, I was never hurt.’

“So we must beware of thinking that God is only in the earthquake, wind, and fire; of thinking that manna but not grain is God’s food. Most of God’s gifts to his people are not dazzling and gaudy but wrapped in simple brown paper. Quiet provisions of safety on the highway, health of children, picking up a paycheck, supper with the family—all in an ordinary day’s work for our God.”

—Dale Ralph Davis, Joshua: No Fallen Words (reprint: Christian Focus, 2000), pp. 48-49

HT: Justin Taylor

Responding to Christ the King

The Christian life is the right response to the divine kingship of Jesus, a habitual, transforming response of trust and allegiance towards Christ, in view of his kingly blessing/salvation and rule.

Living by Faith

“Let us also remember that we are all in the same condition as Abraham. Our circumstances are all in opposition to the promises of God: He promises us immortality; we are surrounded by mortality and corruption. He declares that he counts us just; yet we are covered with sins. He testifies that he is propitious and kind to us; yet outward signs threaten his wrath.

“What then are we to do? We must close our eyes, disregard ourselves and all things connected with us, that nothing may hinder or prevent us from believing that God is true.”

– John Calvin

A Secret to Success in Ministry

Kevin DeYoung shares a secret to the success of John Calvin's ministry....

Radical Abandonment to Jesus

"If Jesus is who he says he is, and if his promises are as rewarding as the Bible claims they are, then we may discover that satisfaction in our lives and success in the church are not found in what culture deems most important but in radical abandonment to Jesus."

-- David Platt

Radical(Colorado Springs, Co.: Multnomah Books, 2010), 3

What is the message of the Bible, in one sentence?

That's the question Dane Ortlund asked a number of theologians. Here are their answers.


HT: Justin Taylor

Patience in Praying

“God’s promises are so dated as to secure his glory in their fulfillment, and this must be enough for us when we can see no other reason for delay. It may be necessary for us to be made more fully aware of our need, and the great value of the blessings which we crave. That which too lightly comes may be too lightly prized. Perhaps our ungrateful spirits need tutoring to thankfulness by an education of waiting. We might not loudly sing if we did not deeply sigh. Wanting and waiting lead to panting and pleading; and these in due time lead to joying and rejoicing.”

– Charles H. Spurgeon, According to Promise

Bible knowledge and the knowledge of God

“Sound Bible exposition is an imperative ‘must’ in the church of the living God. Without it no church can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning of that term. But exposition may be carried on in such way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment whatever. For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience they are not the better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God.”

A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God (London, 1967), pages 9-10.

HT: Ray Ortlund, Jr.

Getting Grounded in the Gospel

David Wells:

The book I would love to see become the year’s most influential is J.I . Packer and Gary Parrett’s Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way. It argues that our churches should be catechizing because this kind of teaching, especially of our young, preserves doctrine. Biblical doctrine is what makes the church the church. We are stumbling in passing on the doctrinal core of the faith, and that goes to the heart of the church’s weakness today.

From an interview with Tabletalk, which is worth reading.

HT: Justin Taylor

How Excellent a Being....

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Timothy 1:17.

"As I read the words, there came into my soul, and was as it were diffused through it, a sense of the glory of the Divine Being; a sense, quite different from any thing I ever experienced before. Never any words of Scripture seemed to me as these words did. I thought with myself, how excellent a Being that was, and how happy I should be, if I might enjoy that God, and be rapt up to him in heaven; and be as it were swallowed up in him for ever!"

-- Jonathan Edwards (Complete Works)

Spiritually Dull Eyes Can't See Christ Clearly

From Ray Ortlund, Jr.:

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8

Our doctrines are lenses through which we see Christ. The clearer the lens, the more vivid the view. All Bible-believing denominations grind their doctrinal lenses with a desire to see Christ faithfully, but there are various grades of fineness and clarity in the different lenses.

We have Christ, who reveals himself to his entire Body; we have doctrinal lenses, which tend to be denomination-specific; and we also have eyes, our own personal capacity for spiritual sight.

That makes doctrine important. It also makes personal purity important. The way it nets out, the Christians with less clear doctrinal formulation might behold Christ’s glory more wonderfully, and the Christians with more clear doctrinal formulation might behold his glory less wonderfully. The ideal, of course, is clear doctrinal lenses and clear spiritual sight together. And when that grace is given to many people together at once, it starts feeling like revival. But no amount of lens-grinding can offset darkness in our very eyes.

In “A Divine and Supernatural Light,” Jonathan Edwards asked, “Is it rational to suppose that those whose minds are full of spiritual pollution and under the power of filthy lusts should have any relish or sense of divine beauty or excellency, or that their minds should be susceptive of that light that is in its own nature so pure and heavenly?”

Here is what I learned from my dad. He valued Christ so much that he valued doctrine. He also knew that dull eyes cannot see Christ clearly, even with good doctrine. It’s why he valued purity of heart above all else, including doctrine.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8

Our doctrines are lenses through which we see Christ. The clearer the lens, the more vivid the view. All Bible-believing denominations grind their doctrinal lenses with a desire to see Christ faithfully, but there are various grades of fineness and clarity in the different lenses.

We have Christ, who reveals himself to his entire Body; we have doctrinal lenses, which tend to be denomination-specific; and we also have eyes, our own personal capacity for spiritual sight.

That makes doctrine important. It also makes personal purity important. The way it nets out, the Christians with less clear doctrinal formulation might behold Christ’s glory more wonderfully, and the Christians with more clear doctrinal formulation might behold his glory less wonderfully. The ideal, of course, is clear doctrinal lenses and clear spiritual sight together. And when that grace is given to many people together at once, it starts feeling like revival. But no amount of lens-grinding can offset darkness in our very eyes.

In “A Divine and Supernatural Light,” Jonathan Edwards asked, “Is it rational to suppose that those whose minds are full of spiritual pollution and under the power of filthy lusts should have any relish or sense of divine beauty or excellency, or that their minds should be susceptive of that light that is in its own nature so pure and heavenly?”

Here is what I learned from my dad. He valued Christ so much that he valued doctrine. He also knew that dull eyes cannot see Christ clearly, even with good doctrine. It’s why he valued purity of heart above all else, including doctrine.

What are the marks of true holiness?

What does holiness look like? J.C. Ryle explains:

1. True sanctification then does not consist in talk about religion.
2. True sanctification does not consist in temporary religious feelings.
3. True sanctification does not consist in outward formalism and external devoutness.
4. Sanctification does not consist in retirement from our place in life, and the renunciation of our social duties.
5. Sanctification does not consist in the occasional performance of right actions. (p. 32)
6. Genuine sanctification will show itself in habitual respect to God’s law, and habitual effort to live in obedience to it as the rule of life.
7. Genuine sanctification will show itself in an habitual endeavour to do Christ’s will, and to live by His practical precepts.
8. Genuine sanctification will show itself in an habitual desire to live up to the standard which St. Paul sets before the churches in his writings.
9. Genuine sanctification will show itself in habitual attention to the active graces which our Lord so beautifully exemplified, and especially to the grace of charity.
10. Genuine sanctification, in the last place, will show itself in habitual attention to the passive graces of Christianity.

HT: Kevin DeYoung

Engaging with God Himself

"There have been men before now who got so interested in proving the existence of God that they came to care nothing for God himself....as if the good Lord had nothing to do but exist! There have been some who were so occupied in spreading Christianity that they never gave a thought to Christ."

-- C.S. Lewis, "The Great Divorce"

Corporate and continuous worship

"Corporate worship is irrelevant, however beautiful its protocols may be..., unless it participates in the seamless life of continuous worship, and unless it is seen as a symptom of how we live and act all week long." -- Harold Best

Our one Father...

"Why did God create only one human being? So that no one can say to a fellow human being: My father was better than yours."

-- the Mishnah (quoted by Tim Keller in "Generous Justice")

New Year...

New Year....new creation...new hope...new mercies every morning....new life.