Grace is free and more than a little wild, and this is why we are given the gift of being the servants or bond-slaves of the Lord. The grace of God is absolutely consistent with God’s holy character, and this is why His well-favored sons and daughters are free, and more than a little wild. …
The Game of Virtue Tag
It is easy to drift into the mindset that is willing to become virtuous, provided the virtues drift our way. We would welcome them, we think, provided they took the initiative, and came to us. But the Scriptures tell us to pursue godliness. In the game of virtue tag, we are “it.” Righteousness, godliness, faith, …
Choreographed Liturgy and Nano-Theology
You have often heard me use the word evangelical. What am I going on about? The Scriptures insist, from beginning to end, on the absolute necessity of the new birth. If we are all objects of wrath by nature, and we are, then something must happen to each one of us at some point if …
Constant Conversion
The true Christian life is a life of true conversion. The Latin is the word for turning around, turning from one direction to go in another. This is something that has to be initially done at the very beginning of the Christian walk, and it is something that all of us must do daily, throughout …
The Reason for Soul-Work
The resurrection is all about life, life from the dead. And the most obvious thing about life is how mysterious it is, not to mention how holy it is. The Puritan George Swinnock observed that Adam’s body was made out of the dust of the ground, while his soul was the direct result of the …
The Political Teeter Totter
We learn good things from our fathers, and we learn how to sin from our fathers. We are a sinful world because we follow in the footsteps of our father Adam, and we will not emerge from that darkness apart from following the final father, the ultimate human father, the Lord Jesus. Jesus is the …
You Already Have a Savior
When we turn away into various forms of idolatry, we are asking other gods to do what only God can do. As we will consider in the message this morning, fathers provide and protect. False fathers promise to provide and protect, and then fail to deliver. This is the history of idolatry—they over promise and …
Glory is Not Wispy
Music is a form of glory. There are many forms of glory, but all of them have this in common — they are weighty. Glory is not wispy. We know that fighting the acoustics in this space is difficult, and we want figure out whatever means of dealing with that as we can — that’s …
For the Fire to Fall
The exhortation this morning will be half announcement and half exhortation. But it is no less spiritual for being practical, and so here goes. You all should recall that beginning next Lord’s Day we will be addressing the topic of Father Hunger, and we will be focused on that for 8 weeks. The HOH meeting …
God Tamers
The difference between Heaven and Hell is not a subtle one. When the Almighty God separates the sheep and the goats, at the end of the day, that judgment day, there will be no nuance. Light and darkness are too entirely different sorts of things—and children of light and children of darkness have entirely different …