“The LORD shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the LORD and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven. Then the LORD will single him out for adversity from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the […]
The gospel of Jesus Christ is remarkably good news. It is indeed “living water” (Jn 4.14) because it never ceases to flow in or satisfy the Christian soul. The Christian needs only one Well and that Well is infinitely supplied. The gospel is a living truth in that it does things in and for those who believe. It changes those who welcome it. It does so because Jesus is living. […]
“The Bible isn’t interested in whether we believe in God or not. It assumes that everyone more or less does. What it is interested in is the response we have to him: Will we let God be as he is, majestic and holy, vast and wondrous, or will we always be trying to whittle him down to the size of our small minds, insist on confining him within the boundaries […]
Like any unusually difficult season of life, the aftershocks of a failed adoption come with their own degree of pain. For those whose only means of having children is adoption, it’s their version of a miscarriage or infant death. That will be hard for many to understand (as are many of the particular sufferings of others), but it is nevertheless true. We spent a month in Maryland giving ourselves to […]
We’ve all attended prayer gatherings where someone offers an “unspoken” request for prayer. In no way do I intend to offend anyone who has done so. You probably consider the burden(s) of such a sensitive nature that they need not be publicized. Even though someone should know something, not everyone needs to hear everything. That said, the notion of an “unspoken” request might stem from an anemic view of the […]
Philip Bliss gave the church a treasure when he wrote the hymn “Man of Sorrows! What a Name” (1875). There is no sweeter foretaste of heaven to hear your church belting out: Guilty, vile, and helpless we; Spotless Lamb of God was he; Full atonement! can it be? Hallelujah! what a Savior! Full atonement. What is it about full atonement that Bliss (and we) would be led to wonder […]
The din of theological saber-rattling continues as Southern Baptists debate what exactly is the “traditional Southern Baptist understanding of God’s plan of salvation.” Several prominent SBC leaders, pastors and professors published what they consider the traditional Southern Baptist interpretation of soteriology. Among others, Tom Ascol is providing excellent commentary and interaction with the technical aspects of the document. Attempting to improving on his insight would be futile. Robust theological debate […]
I’ve been waiting a long time to read something like the following selections from Tullian Tchividjian’s book Jesus + Nothing = Everything. Of course, regular immersion in Scripture will lead to the same conclusions, but you never know what you’ll run across in some downtime reading. Expressing his disdain for “accountability groups” Tchividjian writes, “All parties involved believe that the guiltier we feel, the more holy we are” (p180). I’ve found […]
I recently perused a popular church‘s doctrinal statement, in which the article on “Eternity” read: “Man was created to exist forever. He will exist either eternally separated from God by sin or in union with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is Hell. To be eternally in union with Him is Heaven. Heaven and Hell are places of eternal existence.” I also found this confession to […]
What a difference one letter makes! Repentance is one “t” away from wholesale gospel distortion. Without its “t” repentance is re-penance, which is often what we consider repentance to be. However, repentance is not repeated penance, but one’s change of mind toward sin and its empty promise of life eternal. What we often demand from others in the name of repentance is really acts of penance that prove they’ve overcome […]