John Piper begins and ends his Introduction with the observation that he has been too long in the service of the gospel to amuse himself by playing games of disputation. He graciously assumes the same for N.T. Wright, and then makes the central appeal that we should always make — to the law and to …
Just Love On Her
Once there was young lady in college who flew home for Christmas vacation. Her mother picked her up at the airport, and so they had a very good talk on the drive back to her home, which was a couple hours away. The thing that the young lady really wanted to unburden her soul about …
Enlarging the Imagination of Our Hearts
Suppers are frequently in conjunction with other events. We have memorial banquets, banquets to honor an individual, birthday celebrations, anniversary dinners, and so on. God has created us in such a way that whenever we really want to mark something as important, we attach it to a meal. God has done the same for us …
Guardians of the Baby
I just got my published version of John Piper’s new book The Future of Justification this last week. I had seen an earlier incarnation of the book in manuscript form, but according to the acknowledgments, this book is now twice the size it was when I saw it last. I really appreciate how careful John …
Glorify God and Play the Bass
A group of young men in our church have had themselves a band for a few years now, and they have just completed an album. They were kind enough to give me a copy, which I have listened through a couple times now. They are quite good — one of the band members, when he …
Temporary Justification
In the discussion of my previous Auburn Avenue post, one commenter asked what Reformed group has ever allowed for notions of temporary regeneration or justification. An outstanding answer to that question can be found here. Note carefully the three reasons that the English divines gave to the good gentlemen at Dort for their appeal, and …
Delayed Judgment Is Not Mercy
God has promised blessings to Israel, but we have seen that His blessings are always covenantal. This means that we may never walk away from our obligation to live in the way that God commands, knowing always that He gives His beloved what He commands. Grace enables us to walk rightly; it does not waive …
Envy’s Cat’s Paw
When Paul and Silas came to Thessaloncia, they preached very effectively in the synagogue for three sabbaths running. When the leaders of the Jews there saw just how effective they were, they were stirred up by envy, and assembled a mob (Acts 17:5). The KJV renders their raw material for the uproar as “lewd fellows …
And When You Run Out of Things to Say, Go On to the Next Verse
“The surest way to maintain variety in to keep to the mind of the Holy Spirit in the particular passage under consideration. No two texts are exactly similar; something in the connection or drift of the passage gives to each apparently identical text a shade of difference. Keep to the Spirit’s track and you will …
The Font of Envy
“However, people who think like this do so because they have asked the wrong question, or looked down the wrong end of the telescope. They have asked where poverty comes from instead of where wealth comes from. You might as well ask how ignorance of cardiac surgery ever came into being, rather than knowledge of …