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.