Let’s begin with the basic reason why it is so important to understand what the ground of our justification is — the early Reformers insisted on this (rightly) in the Pauline spirit of preventing any man from boasting about his salvation, which sinful men always want to do. The point was not that we had …
Christ the Lord of Creation
We are Christians, and this means that Christ must be central to our understanding of the created order. We cannot understand anything apart from Him, and this understanding must be bounded and guided by Scripture. Central to the Reformed faith is a right understanding of the created order, and our place in it. “Wherefore God …
The Preacher’s Responsibility to be Interesting
“If men’s minds are wandering far away they cannot receive the truth, and it is much the same if they are inactive. Sin cannot be taken out of men, as Eve was taken out of the side of Adam, while they are fast asleep” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 127).
Hearing the Click
In the midst of some very kind comments about my visit to Mississippi, Steven Wedgeworth said this: “This was clearly the case on imputation. He kept proposing that the imputation of Christ’s active obedience was equivalent with recapitulation. Jesus is the new Israel, so there ya go. While I can see some of this, I …
Holiness Becomes Common
This great vision is presented to us in apocalyptic form. This means it belongs to a certain literary genre, just like parts of Daniel, the Gospels, and the book of Revelation. The word apocalypsis (just like the Latin revelatio) refers to an unveiling, or lifting of the curtain. This enables us to see what is …
Warm to the Work
“Do not start at the highest pitch as a rule, for then you will not be able to rise when you warm with the work; but still be outspoken from the first” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 117).
The Shepherd is Struck
As the burden continues, God promises blessings mixed with chastising refinements. God promises judgments from which great blessings come. “‘It shall be in that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered…'” (Zech. 13:2-9). Remember that in …
So Don’t Drone On, Like a Bee in a Pitcher
“Scarcely one man in a dozen in the pulpit talks like a man” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 111).
They Will Look on the One They Have Pierced
The second oracle, the second “burden,” begins. Now a burden is a negative prophecy. In some sense, this contains hard words for Israel, but in another sense it is full of consolation. “The burden of the word of the Lord against Israel. Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of …
Spiritualize It
“Within limit, my brethren, do not be afraid to spiritualize, or to take singular texts. Continue to look out passages of Scripture, and not only give their plain meaning, as you are bound to do, but also draw from them meanings which may not lie upon their surface. Take the advice for what it is …