I'm a Complete Idiot

Can't wait to preach at my favorite church this Sunday.

'If the dark returns, then my brothers will die . . .'

What the Church is For

Luther's Large Catechism, on Article 3 of the Apostles Creed:

Everything in the Christian Church is ordered to the end that we shall daily obtain there nothing but the forgiveness of sin through the Word and signs, to comfort and encourage our consciences as long as we live here.

Thus, although we have sins, the grace of the Holy Ghost does not allow them to injure us, because we are in the Christian Church, where there is nothing but continuous, uninterrupted forgiveness of sin, both in that God forgives us, and in that we forgive, bear with, and help each other.

HT: Brian Martin

More to Be Desired Than Gold

Francis Chan - "Why We Need the Bible" from Crossway on Vimeo.

Safe, Home

In 1892 B. B. Warfield's Princeton colleague Charles Aiken died. Preaching at the memorial service on 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, Warfield reminded those present of every Christian's certain future, and how that changes the way we say goodbye to beloved friends here.

While yet our farewell to them on this side of the separating gulf was sounding in their ears, the glad "Hail!" of their Lord was welcoming them there.

May God grant to each of us to follow them. May he give us his Holy Spirit to sanctify us wholly and enable us when we close our eyes in our long sleep to open them at once, not in terrified pain in torment, but in the soft, sweet light of Paradise, safe in the arms of Jesus.

--quoted in Fred Zaspel, Warfield on the Christian Life: Living Life in the Light of the Gospel (Crossway, 2012), 225

Interview of a Man I Love

Something My Generation Needs to Learn

'Thimbles and thunderstorms!' cried Trumpkin in a rage. 'Is that how you speak to the King? Send me, Sire, I'll go.'

'But I thought you didn't believe in the Horn, Trumpkin,' said Caspian.

'No more I do, your Majesty. But what's that got to do with it? I might as well die on a wild goose chase as die here. You are my King. I know the difference between giving advice and taking orders. You've had my advice, and now it's the time for orders.'

--C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian, ch. 7

Remembering Who God Is

I found myself wonderfully defibrillated by the two successive questions and answers beginning at the 20 minute mark of this recent Ligonier Q&A. Sproul (Sr) answers both.

Lewis' 'God in the Dock' comes to mind.

The 'What's wrong with you people?' at the 25 minute mark is not the only thing to be said, and probably not the first thing to be said--but it is a neglected thing to be said. Amen.

What We All Naturally Believe

In 1526 Jacob Hochstraten scoffed at Luther's teaching on the "wondrous exchange" in which Christ clothes sinners in his own righteousness as they are united to him. Referring to the emerging Protestant teaching on justification, Hochstraten wrote:

What else do those who boast of such a base spectacle do than make the soul a prostitute and an adulteress, who knowingly and wittingly connives to deceive her husband [Christ] and, daily committing fornication upon fornication and adultery upon adultery, makes the most chaste of men a pimp?

As if Christ does not take the trouble to choose a pure and honorable lover! As if Christ requires from her only belief and trust and has no interest in her righteousness and the other virtues! As if a certain mingling of righteousness with iniquity were possible!

--quoted in Robert Kolb and Charles P. Arand, The Genius of Luther's Theology: A Wittenberg Way of Thinking for the Contemporary Church (Baker, 2008), 47

This quote represents the mindset of the flesh, a theology of glory, our settled intuition about how the world operates. It is what we all naturally, virulently, believe. The great, confounding inversion must settle in.

With this quote Hochstraten separates himself from Christianity and essentially lumps himself in with all other religions, every one of which is, at core, salvation by works. Though using the language of the Bible, this quote is closer to Islam than Christianity.

And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. Luke 5:13

'Why Are People Not Satisfied With Islam?'

Fascinating Muslim fundraising video in light of their alarm at the growth of the gospel in Indonesia, a major stronghold for Islam internationally.

Probably a better plug for Christianity than Islam.



HT: Paul Miller