Introduction: To come into the kingdom of God, to be made a citizen of Heaven, is an occasion of joy. The man who finds the treasure of the kingdom goes out and sells everything in a spirit of ...
How to Lose Your Joy
Justification and Concupiscence
Introduction: I was recently sent a copy of Ruined Sinners to Reclaim , a hefty book dedicated to a thorough treatment of total depravity. It looks marvelous. If you have any friends who are ...
Is Church to be a Safe Space?
In answering the question posed by the title, let me begin by saying yes and no. The contingent response depends on a number of factors. Safe from what? How safe? What tools may we use to establish that safety? Yes, of course, we should take every lawful precaution to keep the church safe — safe …
Jovial Introspection
Over the course of the last year I have been doing a major review of C.S. Lewis’s work. I had been shaped by Narnia as a kid, and began reading his theological works while I was still in high school. In short I did a bunch of binge reading early on, and periodically returned to …
Running From Honest Confession
A man who confesses his sins is doing something like this. In prayer to God, he names the sin he has committed, and he takes care to use the same name that the Bible uses. He does this because he is repentant and has turned away from that sin, rejecting it entirely. He thanks God …
Effluvia
This is the outline of remarks I gave to the male students of NSA this afternoon. Here are three things I want to set out with regard to the sins of words. I am not speaking here of the broad category of sins of the tongue — gossip, slander, quarrelsomeness, and so on. My concern …
Skewed Solidarities
This last Wednesday, I sent out the following tweet: Just so you know, husbands, angry men are terrible lovers. The day after, I sent out one for the ladies: Just so you know, wives, complaining a lot is like taking ugly pills. Both tweets got positive responses, but they also each got a peculiar and …
Why Cigarette Smoking is Not a Sin for Others. Just a Sin for You.
Here is the general outline of a talk I gave on August 24, 2010 at Collegiate Reformed Fellowship. Reposting it again three years later for obvious reasons. My point this evening is not that smoking cigarettes is a sin everywhere and for everyone, under any conceivable circumstance. My thesis is a great deal simpler than …
Accusational Dodge Ball
A few days past, I wrote about some cautions when it came to confession of sin. If you missed it, you can read that here. I wanted to follow that general set of cautions up with a handful of “fer-instance” situations. These might illustrate better how we must remember at all times that we are …
Some Cautions About Confession
Anybody who has followed our teaching for any length of time knows that we believe that confession of sin is good for the soul. I learned this emphasis from my father, and find it to be preeminently biblical. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse …