INTRODUCTION: One of our customs is to have an annual “state of the church” message around the first of the year. These messages vary—sometimes they address the state of the evangelical church generally, and other times they are more geared to the circumstances surrounding our particular congregation. This message falls into the latter category, but …
And Give Me Family
Several wonderful blessings at church this morning. The first is that I had the privilege of baptizing two of my grandchildren, the twins Chloe and Titus. Praise God from whom all blessings flow, including the blessing of God’s generational kindness and promises. The second blessing was a dedication, not a baptism. A family in our …
The Judge in the Dock
In chapter three, John Piper continues to interact with N.T. Wright’s take on the law-court aspect of justification. At the center of the discussion is this now famous section from What Saint Paul Really Said, which needs to be quoted at length. “The result of all this should be obvious, but is enormously important for …
Some Agreement In Spite of Ourselves
Andy Webb has responded to my Demands of the System post here. In his handling of John 15, I actually appreciated and agreed with much of what he had to say, so this response might possibly bring some closure to this line of the argument. Just two crucial points. First, Andy thinks that I was …
Gripping the Sides of His Coracle
In the second chapter, John Piper starts to get down to brass tacks, and he begins with the definition of justification. N.T. Wright defines justification as God’s (legal and forensic) declaration that someone is already within the covenant family. Quoting Wright, Piper writes, “‘Justification’ in the first century was not about how someone might establish …
Please Let Us Come
The glory of the New Covenant is of course seen in its nature, but in the prophecies of Scripture we also see that glory in its promised extent — from the river to the ends of the earth, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, the name of the …
Just Stand in the Pulpit and Turn the Crank
“Do not rehearse five or six doctrines with unvarying monotony or repetition. Buy a theological barrel-organ, brethren, with five tunes accurately adjusted, and you will be qualified to practise as an ultra-Calvinistic preacher at Zoar and Jireh, if you also purchase at some vinegar factory a good supply of bitter, acrid abuse of Arminians, and …
What God Has Spoken
In this section we see a great emphasis placed upon the word of God spoken. A phrase like thus says the Lord of hosts occurs again and again. In these thirteen verses it occurs eight times. God has spoken, and it is the duty of His people to hear Him. “Again the word of the …
Rumble Tumble Sermons
“Never suffer truths to fall from you pell-mell. Do not let your thoughts rush as a mob, but make them march as a troop of soldiery. Order, which is heaven’t first law, must not be neglected by heaven’s ambassadors” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 77).
The Discipline of Joy and Gladness
As mentioned in the last installment, we have finished the first section of the book of Zechariah. Two great oracles occupy the latter half of the book. The first is contained in chapters 9-11, and the second is in chapters 12-14. But before we come to these oracles, we need to cover the didactic portion …